Latest / Life's Just Getting Started / Ep 8: Terry's Story

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Ep 8: Terry's Story · Life's Just Getting Started

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, this is Josh with Three Pillars.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Life's Just Getting Started, a Three Pillars podcast about all things three pillars.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: To tune into other episodes, make sure to visit threepillars.org slash podcast.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to Life's Just Getting Started, a Three Pillars podcast about all things three pillars.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Kelsey.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I am Josh, and we are here with Terry from the fields.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Terry, welcome.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Nice to be here.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, before you jump in, Kelsey, I want to make sure.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: You knew I would.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I wanna I want to celebrate.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: They're not here with us, but uh Celia, especially all her hard work.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to our new studio.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: You may notice a little difference from from what we had in the past.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's fabulous in here.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: So well played, Celia, Kelsey.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_03: Shout out to Curious here behind the cameras, behind the mics.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: So grateful.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_03: It made us a re we have a recording studio.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: The audio is beautiful, we're comfortable, it's just our conversation nook.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're glad you're here.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: Dr.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Terry Himchick.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, a teacher.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: We thought as we're getting into back to school season, a lot of the world right now is thinking about have had their first day of school and their pictures, or they're trying to find where their rack pack is and make sure they have their supplies.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: So we're all speaking for an experience.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's a back to school theme, and we thought, what fun to speak to a resident here who has some stories from teaching from school.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: I do.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Before we talk about your teaching stories, will you just give us a quick introduction about you, where you're from, family, about Terry?
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'll make it as quick, I think.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: I was born in New York.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my dad then had job transfer.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: We moved to Tuyo, Ohio, and then moved to Cleveland, Ohio, which is where I met my husband when I was 14 in ninth grade.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't get married, by the way, obviously.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: After college, we married and moved to Minnesota, and that's where we adopted our first child from South Korea.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now my husband was from Germany, and then we had our daughter here in Wisconsin, she's the only local.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: We ended up deciding that we wanted to have the kids more exposed to the world, but it was too expensive to travel.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we decided instead to invite students to come and live with us for one year.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: And these were high school students at Catalmarain.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: We had five of them over the years, and um still keep in touch with all of them.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: They're all successful adults right now, and now we're at a point in our life where we can visit them.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So we've been to Santiago, Chile, we've been to Sydney, Australia, uh Basel, Switzerland, um Normandy, France, and uh Germany.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: So it's been fun.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: You brought the world to your kids.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was an easier way to learn and a lot less expensive and a lot more fun.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: And now we have great contacts when we travel.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Also, that's special.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Really neat.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and we noticed that I think a theme as we talk to you is this worldly a global um a theme.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of your life and how you've chosen and where where your hobbies lie, and as through your profession, and as what you've exposed your family to, which is really neat.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Our my husband's from Germany, our son is from South Korea, he's currently living in the Philippines.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_02: Our daughter married a man from Kenya.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: So come in our immediate family, represent four different continents.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's been nice.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: Are those two locations of where your children's spouses are from?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: Are those on your travel list regularly now, too?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_02: We have not been to either Africa or Asia at this point, but you never know.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_02: Why not?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Why not?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm curious about Germany.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Where at in Germany?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: He came from a small town called Schwabach, which is near Nuremberg.
• 4:00
  unknown: Okay.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: And came over um after the war when he was seven years old in December on the North Atlantic.
• 4:06
  unknown: Okay.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Not a fun trip for him.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I can't imagine.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of cold and rough.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: But they moved to Ohio then because his aunt married American GI and they were living in Cleveland, so that's how they ended up in Ohio.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: That was gonna be my question.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Then you were a Midwest, you're a Midwest girl for the rest of your um for sure life.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio to Minnesota to Wisconsin.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: And most most of our years here in Wisconsin now.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: Where did your teaching career come in?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Did you know as a little girl you always wanted to be a teacher?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: You played school.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: Was that, but it doesn't.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it wasn't like a priority when I was real young.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: But my dad was a businessman, and he evidently saw that would be a good career for me.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: So he promoted it.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_02: And um, he actually brought home uh HR testing to see what direction I should go way back decades ago.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: And education always popped up.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I went off to school to become a teacher, and I loved it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: I love kids, I love learning.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm still involved in education, so that was a perfect match that he made for me and my career.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: Good idea, Dad.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely he knew you and you knew you.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: And you had you've teached various um age levels, and then I know been more involved with education since then.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: But if we just I I think I understood where did you spend most of your career?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_03: What age level teaching?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_03: Middle school, middle school.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_03: That terrifies me.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just weird as they are, so perfectly actually you could have been an eighth grade teacher too.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I thank you for that.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's a it's a compliment.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I don't know if I could have done eighth grade.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: I always I wanted to be a teacher originally, and third grade always stuck with me.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: And here's why it stuck with me.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: Shout out, I'm sure she's not hearing us anymore.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Mrs.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wolf, but she's long retired.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: But the point is that that sticks with you.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I think teachers, so thank you for your your work because I think it's such an important profession.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I think the impact you have on kids is it's lifelong.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like you it's sometimes you don't even know them until maybe you run into them years later and they recognize you and you don't recognize them because they're quite old now, and sure they don't look like eighth graders anymore.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: You can't possibly remember every student you found, but I've had a lot of them.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, and for them to say, I'm so it's so you were my eighth grade teacher.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_03: I remember when you something and I say, I rewrap that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: Oh by well, that's memorable.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: Talk of them remember something.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, and give them the directions and help me pay attention.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: I used to also do like discipline through peer pressure, so I didn't have to do any of the discipline.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us more.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this is one of my funny stories because the custodian was complaining because the girls were putting on lipstick and kissing the mirror, and the girls that's hard to wipe off.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so I called some girls when they were coming out the bathroom.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: I said, You're not gonna believe this, but I gotta tell you this, and please share it with your friends.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: I said, There's this kissing going on in the mirror, and the custodian has a heck of a time getting off the lipstick, and he found out that a mixture of water and urine works the best.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, share with your friends.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: No one ever kissed the tell the right group who's gonna tell others.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: That did its job.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: So I always try to come up with a unique way to take care of discipline.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's actually quite smart for the eighth grade level and it works.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: Probably a lot of bubble.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Did you teach multiple subjects within eighth grade?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, math and English.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: We had yeah, we had at that time the reading was required through eighth grade and kettlemraine.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I taught the reading component, but we're so closely connected in our house with the other subjects.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd combine with social studies, and we studied the Constitution and uh Supreme Court, or we worked with the English department, and but I mostly focused on the reading and the literature, and then I taught seventh grade math also.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Did you see it change throughout your career with with students in general?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: As you know, how did students change over the your course of uh the course of your teaching career?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, really early on in Kettle Moraine, it was an agricultural community.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_02: So uh a couple about eight eighth hour, the few of the boys were falling asleep because they were farmers and they got robbed around milking the cows.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: But then of course, um in the I don't know, maybe there was a time too when drugs seemed to be a big issue for young people experimenting.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that was not a uh easy time with some of the students.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: They were just not interested in learning or education and kind of spaced out or whatever, and um then it progressed to being just really kind of a great community for teaching at the middle school.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: I just loved it, and people were having fun.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: I set up a club for fun.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: We call it the Explorers Club.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_02: And so I would take the kids skiing in the UP, we would go to Chicago for theater, we would do um Washington, DC and Williamsburg and right after school in the summer.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, we did Freightfest during October.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: That tradition has stuck.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Is it?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: I had a good I my kids are kettle morant kids, and I looked forward to it every year in eighth grade.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_02: I love to hear that.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we did uh Blue Man Group in Chicago, Pritt Beater on town.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, did a mother parent the best trip was the parent team field trip because they had three hours to bum around in Chicago and I gave them my phone number and then they had to come back to the bus so we could make it to the theater in time.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh we had a great time.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: It was a lot of fun.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: But it was never during the school day, it was never during taking them out of school.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was always, and we ski over it um not well, Michigan, but also like a cascade, taking friends.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's fun to have a group that's engaged enough and likes their school community that right, you want to do extra stuff after school or the beginning of summer.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: And that speaks to our we're lucky enough, we three pillars are lucky enough to be in the same community as the school that you taught at.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, Dowsman.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's not a huge place, but a really special place, yes.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I, you know, my anybody could go on my field trips if I liked them.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was the key.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: So if they were nice and well behaved and responsible, then they could come.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: And if they weren't, their job was to fool me that year.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: Is there an application process to join the Explorers Club, right?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: Fill it a forum and if you like them, it's a yes.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: No, but I says really the people that I talk to the most about your behavior is your bus dryer.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: They know because they have your back to you, you know, they but dry life in your hands.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: So that was one of my criteria.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Nice responsible.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_03: I you said you used raps to help people remember things.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I feel like we have to ask you, do you have any of them fresh and could you rap for us a little bit?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: What did you was it like to remember prepositions or it'd be like, okay, kids, it's time to read.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: In those books, is what you need.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Ready, set, proceed.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a reader.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: I did this for middle school.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: I said, I think I just heard a fart.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_02: It came out like a speeding dart.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_02: You may think that we don't care, but in this room we want clean air.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'll crack off them when we go on with our lesson.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: It never came to mind.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's incredible.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a that's uh that's that's like a fun teaching.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's a liter like literacy teacher's brain.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's poetry in a format that reaches your audience.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: And if you got a fart, you should step out.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: Excuse yourself.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Raise your hand or make it quiet.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_02: At first hour, you know, to get the kids into the classroom, I would sometimes put on Sesame Street, or sometimes I put on race cars or something.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_02: I say, see, you know, they're all they all have a plan, they all know what they're doing.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: And look at when they're trying to find one of the characters on Sesame Street, they're all kind of looking for clues, just like the author does in your book.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: Find the clues.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: If I was trying to create something that they would relate to to what we were doing in school.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where did home libraries for kids come from?
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: How did that come about?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_02: I was in a women's group and um we meet four times a year and we have dinner in our homes, and then we the people who is the excuse me, the people that are hosting it that year will pick charity or an individual who needs help.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we jump in the kangaroo club.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: Jump in where help is needed.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: So one time we donated to a school downtown called St.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Marcus, and it was a one one-building school on North Avenue, and it's a 80-80 school, 80% African-American, poverty, uh single parenting.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: But it was a choice school, and they were doing quite well compared to the public schools, and it's a K three through grade eight.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: So we went down to tour it after we contributed and went into a first-grade classroom.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: It was in spring, and teachers said, I have good news and bad news.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And the kids said, What is the good news?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, The good news is that you have done such a fabulous job learning how to read this year.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so proud of you, you know.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_02: But she says the bad news if we have read every book that we have in the classroom right now.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: And when they say good news, they all cheered.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_02: And when she said the bad news, they all droned.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then she said, But I have more good news.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's some books coming in, and you each get to take a book home for the weekend, and they all cheered.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_02: And one little boy yelled, That's better than chocolate milk.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: Now that stuck to my heart.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: I how you have a chill for the weekend.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_02: So then years to come when I decided to retire from the classroom.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: I still loved education, so I did I was going to uh maybe I'll teach at a university.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then I found out I had a good adopterate to do that, so I did that next.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_02: Why not?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: Because I love learning.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I got it in educational leadership, and I did consulting for different districts in the area.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: I worked with high school teachers.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I worked for CISA One and a lot of different jobs, but that message about chocolate milk always stuck in my brain.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought there's got to be a way to get books to those kids.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I started home libraries for kids and I started uh talking to a few people that thought it was a great idea, and we went down and presented it.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: Very new.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: So they said, well, we'll try it for a trial period.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: Now this school has presently grown to three campuses.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: Over a thousand students in K three through eight.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I started with four classes.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we've set up book fairs and um got free books for them to take home and keep.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: And now we're up to 15 classes and giving away well over 4,000 books of the years.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: So now we're starting year number 11.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: Still enjoying it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: They're so cute and they're so excited about reading.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's really amazing.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's so powerful too, right?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all of the worlds that it unlocks for for kids and the stories and the um wow.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, congratulations.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's wonderful.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we read to them when they when they come.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's this book called Um, it's by uh what should what should Danny do?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's a choose your own adventure.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: We do it for the second grayers.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so when the trashly gets on the little girl's head, that's where we stop.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: And then they have to choose what should Danny do and to pick.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: And the book was a bit expensive, so I ended up just contacting the authors and kind of explain my program and what I wanted to do.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: So for the last four years, they've given me great discounts on books, and that's fantastic.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: So every year the kids get to pick one of those, pick nun some nonfiction books like Creepy Crawlers or things that may be interested in.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um Captain Underpants, you know, things that are all funny reading.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think so.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: You might have read me or something or red too.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, red, yes.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, red, red to Nick, certainly as a kid.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Cat in underpants, he loved them.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like he loved those.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just thinking about all those stories, and I'm thinking of like the Scholastic Book Fair where you filled out like how fun it was to fill out your wish list and what you're wish list and surveillance.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it's I don't think it's wonderful for kids that can access that, but to to certainly be able to access books and access.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: So the third graders get to pick um up to$25 worth of books from Scholastic.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then the first and second graders are the ones that we guide more with picking out three of them.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: Look at the one that we read to them or part of them, and then two others.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Fiction and non-fiction.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: That sure brings perspective to think about in some communities how readily available books are.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_03: There's libraries, we got books at home, we got books that are, you know, right.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_03: Game shower when you're having it, like we have books coming out our our ears and how lucky we are to have lots of books, and that even in our area here in in southeastern Wisconsin, there's houses where books aren't so prevalent.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: And that is a mission I think anybody can get by and how powerful a book is, or a kid especially.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure we'll put it in all the little doodads in the comment section of this.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, do you want to plug the website or is there a place that folks can go if they want to donate or if they want to contribute or to get in touch with you or galaisma?
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Why don't they just get in touch with me?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: They're easiest, and then I can see what their needs are and how they can help.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_02: That'll be great.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just themshik at yahoo.com.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Wonderful.
• 17:07
  unknown: Good.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you can spell it with them, right?
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: We can.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we can we'll get something, we'll get something in there to think to get involved.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: So that's something um would you say it's a non a non-profit?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: It is a non-hovit.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: Passion project for you because I didn't set up the for 501c.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: The school has the 501c, so the renditions are done directly through the school, so it is tax deductible that I can guide them for either buying books, planning books, and getting involved in the book there's making suggestions to how to improve, always literally for changes.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Love all that.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_03: And so is that something that you um I mean, now you're officially retired, but heavily involved with that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_03: Are you still doing any of your consulting, or is it now enjoying life at Three Pillars and and your nonprofit periodically throughout the year?
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's the stage of my life where I need to give back.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's when I just decided to try this YouTuber to go.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I love it because I still love seeing the kids and the excitement of reading and learning.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: So where does three pillars come into this journey?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: So how did you how did you come here and learn about it?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: And what brought me to Three Pillars?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we lived in Wales, which is just seven miles down the road.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't buy three pillars all the time when I went to the middle school and the original portion.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: And but I don't think I'd ever want to live there because I'm not that old yet, or something, you know, I don't know anything about it.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, fast forward then to we had a house that had a lot of steps in it, and we built it back when we were in our 20s, so that was, you know, our home for many years.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but I kept thinking, well, we're getting older, and I'd usually think ahead as far as you know, decades, this isn't going to be our forever home, I'm pretty sure.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then they started building the fields, the north side at three pillars, and I said, Oh, I think I'll go take a look.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: And when I came to take a look, I was sold.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Because it it was everything that we were thinking we might need at some point in our lives.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_02: And we had other friends that didn't make choices early on, and it just was another incentive for us to make that early choice.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so actually, my husband has been in rehab since we've been here already.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he's out, of course, and is then real happy with the services there, been helping a lot.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and the community is fun.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's so much to do, and everybody moved in at the same time in our section.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: So we're all out meeting each other and you know, hearing their stories and enjoying the company.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like you're the new kid on the block.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody is.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: That is kind of fun.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: The the yeah, at this particular area, as things were finished being built, you know, what was it, 10 or 20 people at a time kind of moving in, right?
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_03: Same week.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: We have to pick out our own flooring, our painting, and sure, you know, everything we wanted, just like a new home.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: When you thought, when you originally, you know, years ago drove by thinking, not that old yet, or a place for older people, and like yeah.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yeah, for everybody.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: I have been in one of the buildings in the old section because I connected with a couple there that that volunteered to be Mr.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: and Mrs.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_02: Santa Claus at school.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: So I pick them up and take them over, and they played Santa Claus.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I thought, oh, it was a nice little apartment, but it's for old folk.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_03: No, I'm one of those.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_03: And it's not 55 and up.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: So right now.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, this is not for old folk.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: And you plays is beautiful, and you know, access as you mentioned, access to the entire 300-acre campus and amenities and fun and dining and all these things.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm glad you mentioned maybe kind of the just in case, one of the added benefits.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: If you would ever, your husband would ever need a little something more.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_03: How nice that formable short-term rehap.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Couple weeks with some therapy, it was right here across the street.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: And that was, and I'm training him for what it's mind term.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: So your job's gonna be harder than mine.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, how long have you been here right now?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: We moved in in November.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_02: Is that phase three?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I think.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_02: Coming up on a year.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: So you've had enough time to get involved with things.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: So are there activities or things that you like to be like involved in while you're on campus?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well, besides the volunteer I work outside of the campus, um, we haven't done a whole lot, and I'm looking forward to more of it opening up on this north side.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: But we have done the um exercise area before we moved in.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: I do a lot of walking around the campus and I don't do the biking.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: But um is and you went to one of the fancy dinners that we had?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: Supper club, maybe the Supper Club one that was really delicious.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: You've just probably discovered miles and miles of trails.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: Have you walked and biked on campus?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_03: David, do you have your your loop set?
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_03: Are you kind of always discovering new routes?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of I think I've covered all the routes.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm lucky almost every day.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_02: You've seen all my story and wander, I'm not lost.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, good to know.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: I get to know.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we ask everybody this.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Then certainly you've had a chance to get out on campus at Zelda.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: So do you have a favorite spot of all the places you've explored on campus?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: My house.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good spot.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good spot.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_02: And you've got we talked about your pretty view.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we do have a pretty view, you know, and the original side is such that beautiful woodsy area.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I kept thinking when we move over to the north side, it won't be that pretty walk.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: But now we have the beautiful sunsets and the sunrises, and we have, I call him Mallard.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: I call him Melvin the Mallard.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: He's been around.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody has a different name for Melvin.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: I call him Melvin.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: And his buddies come and visit at the boule at Virginia.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: Summer Fud, yeah.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: I come home, I say, oh wolf, through at the beach again.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Those are the fountains.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Fountains.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: Couple ponds on campus.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: You've got one right by you.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it's been kind of fun.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's wonderful.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: Did we miss?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: Was there anything else teaching stories?
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_03: Any one or two finals you wanted to leave us with?
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like some a moment from teaching that stuck with you, or something funny, or any other teacher advice, or anything else?
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, at the end of the day, we used to sit around the garbage can.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: The teachers didn't really and rehash our day on the floor there.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um at the end of the school year, we always wanted to play Who Let the Dogs Out, but I don't know if they ever did that.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like over the overall, yeah, because we get in the buses, we go out and wave too often.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: One time when I was taking the kids to uh six black freight america for Frankfest, um, I noticed there were three bus loads.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: So on the on the bus I was on, someone had one of those lights, those laser lights that they weren't supposed to use a pointer.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or it's somebody's eye or something.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so I saw it flashing at the front of the bus.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_02: So I just on turn your eyes and says, oops, uh-oh, there's a problem.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: Here somebody has one of those laser lights, and that's not allowed.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna close my eyes, I'm gonna raise my hand, and I want it in my hand, and it's not in my hand shortly, then the bus gets turned around and we'll call parents to pick you up.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_02: Pretty soon that the laser, peer pressure, right?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the laser was in my hand.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: I tried, thank you very much.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: I said that whoever belongs to can pick it up at the principal's office on Monday.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: You gave them a nice opportunity to not have to confess, but everybody on this said give that how to go.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_03: I think I would have liked just a septic style.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: I tried to make a good community for the kids to want to come to school, and I enjoyed them.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: I think they enjoyed my classroom.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any last-minute advice for parents that are getting ready to get back to school this week or next week?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's send their kids off.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think just be positive, be good listeners.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, middle school isn't always the easiest time for kids.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: They're changing, kids are changing, friendships are changing.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: So, um, and also, you know, if you run into an issue that they taught that you talk to your child about, feel free to talk to the guidance counselors too.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: They're good helpers.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: Both my kids also had one year that was difficult for them in middle school, and that's not unusual.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: But for the most part, they end up in the right spot with the right kids in the right direction.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Grant.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: Thank goodness for people who work in all the schools, middle schools, guys, counselors, tea, staff, faculty.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: That can happen anytime.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's great advice.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: It was great talking with you.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: We appreciate you coming on joining us, and thanks to anybody listening and watching.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for tuning in to Let's Just Getting Started, Three Pillars podcast about all things three pillars.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm Kelsey.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Josh.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_03: And we are signing off.