Life North of the 54th

Transcript

• 00:00 - Background
• 11:21 - Becoming a Teacher
• 30:00 - Up to no good
• 40:02 - Mischief Managed
• 54:51 - Reflections on Teaching

00:00 - Background

Opening Theme Music:
[bass guitar riff]

Garett:
Welcome back to Life North of the 54th. I'm Garett Brown.

Preston:
And I'm Preston Brown. We're happy to have you join us on our program today. We have with us today, an old friend, Kim, and we'll have her introduce herself.

Kim:
Hi, my name's Kim Houlder. I have the privilege of teaching both Garett and Preston in PWA in Grande Prairie, Alberta. And actually, I taught every single one of their siblings. So kind of a great thing. They were a great family to teach and because they of course loved science and it was always fun to teach them. And they quite enjoyed school. So that for a teacher, that's always something really, really good. I grew up in the Peace Country in more so around the Grimshaw area. I was born in a little tiny hospital called Burwin. And my family was from that area. And I was so basically raised in Grimshaw. I went to Grimshaw High and a big portion of my family is there. I mean, not that my mom's family was very large. My grandpa had 11 brothers and sisters. So very huge. My dad's family, very small. He only had two brothers and himself. So kind of interesting, but quite enjoyed the Peace Country being raised there, just very family oriented and everything like that. So it was kind of cool.

Garett:
Yeah, thanks. Thanks for sharing. So I don't think you mentioned, but you taught chemistry at Peace Wapiti Academy.

Kim:
I did. I taught chemistry. I forgot to mention what I actually taught.

Garett:
Yes, a science, but it was chemistry. Yeah.

Kim:
Yeah, science 10 and chemistry 20, 30. I miss it. I'm now retired. And I absolutely miss it. Now I miss the kids. Do I miss the marking?

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
No. Do I miss the parent politics? No. Do I miss the horrible staff meetings? No, but I do miss the kids.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Kim:
I do miss the, being a teacher. That's, you know, that's the big, huge thing.

Garett:
Yeah, I can relate to the marking, but I've never had to do as much marking as I think a high school teacher.

Kim:
Yeah, well, and I was, I was bad. I believe that if you guys handed it in, I should mark it. And apparently not all teachers feel that way, but I definitely did.

Garett:
Yeah. They definitely don't feel like that at university very much.

Kim:
No, no, no, don't.

Preston:
The accountability at university is different than it is at high school.

Kim:
Yeah, definitely it is.

Garett:
Yeah, I had some classes where they would have you turn it in assignment, maybe it's five or six questions, and then they would just mark one of them. And you didn't know which one it was. They would just mark one. So you had to do them all.

Kim:
Yeah. And so it's like, you never know which one was going to be marks. You had to do a good job on all them. It was hard.

Garett:
Yeah, yeah, I really enjoyed my time in high school. I know that's not necessarily what is normal for most people or many people. Some people really struggle with high school. Yeah, but I had a great time. And yeah, I really enjoyed the learning. I mean, I'm doing PhD now. So I enjoyed the learning enough to like spend more than more than the usual K to 12 time now doing post K to 12.

Kim:
Yeah, and you know, and everybody's different, right? Everybody and there's different kinds of learning, right? You know, what Preston is doing. I wish I was as as talented as to be able to fix things and don't wouldn't have to, you know, phone a handyman every time I want to fix something because well, I've tried to fix a few things. Some goes okay. Some not so much.

Garett:
Yeah, it's a skill takes practice.

Kim:
Very true. And hands on things are, I mean, Preston, I can tell that for Preston, well, both of you were very hands on, right? Because both of you love spending time in the shop. But you're both science-y, you're both hands on, but one has gone one way with the, with your, with the, you know, going into doctorate, the other one's going into hands on with carpentry and everything like that, but both incredible skills.

Preston:
Thank you.

Kim:
Yeah.

Preston:
I've always been fascinated with Grimshaw. I just remember they, I've been there quite a few times, but what does it like growing up there?

Kim:
Grimshaw really small town, under 5000 people. Small town can be good and bad, good that everybody knows what you're doing. So they care and they, you know, want you to do well. And they, and, you know, they, they look out for you. And, you know, when you're in school, you didn't just have one mom, you had like 10 moms, because somebody if your friend's mom saw you, you know, your lunch wasn't right or something, you know, you needed a ride or whatever. Yeah, you always have lots and lots of help. Bad, because sometimes, well, there's sometimes that you just didn't want your parents to know what you were doing. And of course, you know, you would have them, they'd snitch on you type of thing. My next door neighbour, I came home, a little bit after curfew, told my dad that I'd come home before curfew. He didn't know. But my next door neighbour informed my dad that Oh, no, he saw me coming in at 2:30. And that wasn't the time that I came home. And I'm like, rats. So I mean, it can be good and it can be bad. But for the most part, it's good. Grimshaw is quite a close knit town. It's not quite as much anymore, unfortunately, just because, you know, the families have kind of moved away. And there's lots more people coming in and out. So they're not quite as close. But if there's a family that's in trouble or whatever, all they have to do is post on the, they have a little Facebook page for Grimshaw and they can post anything and people come, you know, there's a fire, if there's whatever, it's amazing how the town actually comes together and does things. And what's really kind of cool is people my age now are starting to become grandparents. Eww.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
And so it's quite neat to see, you know, them with their grandchildren and how that they're trying to carry on the community spirit and things that they do. So it's really quite neat to to live there. I love going back. I'm always grateful when I get to kind of come back to Grande Prairie, because well, you know, the grocery store doesn't have everything that you might like. And you, there's no place in Grimshaw to buy, you know, a pair of socks or anything like that. So you have to kind of, you know, weigh the good with the bad. But generally, I think growing up in a small town was really beneficial for me type of thing. Educationally wise, mostly beneficial, hard, because I mean, they didn't offer calculus class. So you had, you were thrown to the wolves in first year university when you had to take calculus in university. But generally, you know, the, and, and again, good and bad, you the teachers knew your parents. So they had no problem with, with phoning them. And so that can be good. And that can be bad.

Garett:
Yeah, yeah.

Kim:
But I mean, Peace Wapiti was kind of like that too, though, like we know all the parents really well. And your mom and dad could come in and say, So are they getting all their stuff done? Yeah, they are.

Garett:
Did you grow up in Grimshaw or just outside of Grimshaw?

Kim:
Right in Grimshaw. That's kind of a half truth. I lived a big portion of my life in Grimshaw. And then my dad decided that we needed an acreage. And we moved out for an acreage for a little while for about five or six years. And then my mom said, I'm done with the acreage. We can move back into Grimshaw. So okay, so we moved back. But for the most part, I was no more than like 10 minutes away from Grimshaw. So but lived there from, I think I was two when we moved there. And well, my parents lived and passed away there. So it's completely, you know, with they lived their entire lifetime in Grimshaw. So my brother's still there.

Garett:
That's amazing.

Kim:
Yeah, well, it's a it's a long time. Like he's been there a long time. So that's kind of cool to be able to still go home. Like I still call Grimshaw home. Which is a unique thing for for people like you call probably Toronto home.

Garett:
Yeah, I guess. Yeah, definitely when I talk with my daughter, since she was born here. But yeah, it's a little hard to feel like Toronto's home, partly because it's it feels transient because I'm going to school here. And doesn't feel like I'm gonna stay. But I've been here for so long that it does feel kind of home, especially when I go away and come back, it does feel like I'm coming home. All my stuff's here.

Kim:
Yeah. Yeah, over sure. And for and for Preston, while he's, I mean, Edmonton's not that far away from Grande Prairie. So a little closer to home. If you call Grande Prairie home.

Preston:
You can drive there and back in a day. Which I have done before. Either way, Grande Prairie to Edmonton, then Grande Prairie, or vice versa.

Kim:
Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure.

Garett:
Yeah, every time though, I come back a up Highway 43 and pass Bezanson and then peak over by the Kleskun Hills and start driving into Grande Prairie. Yeah, it does still feel like I'm going home, even if I've not been there in years.

Kim:
Oh, for sure. And that's, I mean, I just went to Grimshaw this past weekend. And as soon as I hit Burwin, I know that, you know, it just feels like home. And and when you walk down this, I mean, still everybody, you know, when I, I went for a walk the other morning, and, and a bunch of people stopped and said, Hey, you're back. And, you know, and everything's how's it going? And I heard you retired. And of course, you can't, you can't go to the grocery store without finding somebody that wants to, to talk to you because they haven't seen you in forever. And but it's still, everybody can still considers Grimshaw my home, like I'm just living in Grande Prairie to, you know, have a job.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
I'm retired, but you know, that's kind of how they feel is they always think that you're like, you're a Grimshaw girl. Well, I'm a Grande Prairie person now, but you know, but yeah, it's, it's, it's still a, I think a cool feeling to that when you go back to someplace like that, you, you know, you recognize people and you go into the post office and they talk to you and, you know, it's kind of a, it's, I guess it's comfortable. Kind of thing and kind of comforting, which is kind of a, you know, it's not something you would find in a, in a big city. Even in Grande Prairie though, because I've taught here so long, and I went to Safeway today and took me forever to get out of there because I ran into like five different groups of parents and a kid that I used to teach and I'm like, oh, I gotta go, I gotta get out of here.

Garett:
Yeah, we went to the grocery store yesterday, we ran out in like three minutes.

Kim:
Yeah. Well, and that's what happens when you go.

Garett:
There were like a hundred people in there.

Kim:
And they don't care and they don't know you and that's okay.

11:21 - Becoming a Teacher

Garett:
So what led you from, so you said you did high school in Grimshaw? And then I know you went to university to become a teacher, but do you want to tell us your experience and story on how you left the Peace Country and then ended up back in the Peace Country?

Kim:
Sure. When I graduated from high school, I was sure I was going to become a pharmacist. And so I wrote all the, I wrote the PCAT and all the entrance things for pharmacy and I got in and got out to the UofA and about, I don't know, two thirds of the way of the year, you had to go do a placement. So you had to go visit a little pharmacy and kind of do like kind of a work experience. And I remember phoning my dad and absolutely bawling on the phone going, I can't do this. I can't deal with sick, whiny people. My whole life, I can't do this. Because of course, I was working on a, working a little inner city pharmacy. And of course, all these elderly people would come in and they were sick and coughing and they wanted to know what cough syrup they should take. And I'm like, I can't do this. This is just not what I could do. And so I finished out the year. And when I came home, my mom and dad said to me, Well, I don't know what you're doing. But in September, you're going back to university and you need to figure out what you're doing. You're not staying in Grimshaw. You're getting your butt back out there and you're going to do something. I'm like, I have no idea what I want to do. And one of my ex-teachers invited me to come back and, because I was home from university in May, and invited me to come back and help out in her classroom. And I went, this is cool. I like this. I like working with the kids. I like, you know, helping them with their stuff. And so I applied to GPRC at that point and took my first year of education. And then what I did is in GPRC, you could not finish, well you can, but you can't really finish your your senior science degree. I mean, you could get an elementary science degree. But I really, I didn't like the little Rugrats. They're cute in groups of one or two.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
They're not cool in groups of 24 and 25. I'm like, No, we're good. We're good. And so I transferred to the UofL, University of Lethbridge, and got my degree in education with a major in chemistry and physics and a minor by mistake, well actually, a minor in math and a minor in psychology by mistake, because what happened is, I was filling all my requirements. And I took five psychology courses just because I found them interesting. And then when I got my degree papers, I went, hey, apparently I have a minor in psychology too.

Garett:
[laughs]

Kim:
So but yeah, that was that was kind of cool. During my my time at the UofL, I really discovered that I really didn't want to teach little kids. I got barfed on once. That was really exciting.

Garett:
Yes, I remember you telling me that story when I was in high school.

Kim:
Yeah, not not cool. I was doing the swish-and-spit and this kid barfed all over me. Special was that. So I really knew that I wanted to teach high school. So then I went to an exciting place called Fox Creek.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Kim:
And taught chemistry and physics there. And that was an interesting town to teach in because either they were, in Fox Creek at that point there were three types of people. Either you work for Amaco, you were an RCMP, you were an engineer, or you were a teacher. Those are the four type of people that were in Fox Creek. And I remember I was coaching volleyball and going on these trips and these kids would say, you know, Miss Houlder, do you have change for 50? What colour is a 50? I don't know what colour of $50 bill is. Because I mean, at that point, the oil industry had lots of money. And I also discovered that working in a town like Fox Creek was really cool because Amaco had all this money. And they found out that I was the new science teacher in Fox Creek High School. And they came in and said, give us your wish list, because we have a grant for you.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Kim:
And I went, oh, so I wrote out this little wish list. And the guy said, no, no, no, I mean, wish list. Like this is like just a baby wish list. He said, give me a wish list. And what we have money for, I will buy you. So I dreamt big. I went, well, he's going to ask me for a wish list. I'm going to make a big wish list. And believe it or not, I got it all.

Garett:
Holy cow. [chuckles]

Kim:
Like all of a sudden, like, these boxes kept coming to the school. And I'm like, I got a huge Vandegraaff generator. And I got all of this stuff. And all these teachers are going like, how did you do this? I said, I don't know. I just, I made wish list.

Garett:
[laughs]

Kim:
And that's what they gave me.

Preston:
Company tax write off.

Kim:
Oh, yeah. For sure.

Preston:
They didn't want to get taxed on it. So they give it to the local school.

Kim:
Oh, yeah. And but we have like, we had some cool things. Like it was like, absolutely. And, you know, we had the great big huge Vandegraaff generators. So I mean, we could zap people. And I mean, it was funny. What I did is, is I we had a social studies teacher that shared my room. And he always left my room in a mess. And so what I did is I left the Vandegraaff generator kind of sitting where he put his stuff. So I plugged it in and let it run for a while and then unplugged it. And then he came into my classroom. Well, of course, he grabbed it and didn't know it was charged and got a big zap out of it. I got into a little bit of trouble for that.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
But it was, I thought it was funny. I'm not sure he did. [chuckles]

Garett:
Yeah, I had a few experiences growing up with Vandegraaff generators. They're fun. They're fun things. And they're really exciting for kids to play with. It wasn't until I got the university and I learned that Vandegraaff generators were not designed and built to entertain children and show that they're like actually built to be used in particle accelerators and colliders. I got to work on one that was a, it was broken, and so I was working on it trying to fix it. But it was a two million volts potential. It was pretty big.

Kim:
[chuckles] Wow, that would be impressive. That would be impressive. So unlike Mr. Hassanalli, who would let it run for 15 minutes and then tell a kid to stick out their tongue to watch the blue ark jump from the Vandegraaff generator to their tongue.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
It's like, Oh, my goodness, Hassanalli. Yeah. [chuckles]

Garett:
Don't worry, I won't tell him. I won't tell him you told us.

Kim:
Oh, he knows. I tell everybody all the time. [chuckles]

Garett:
[chuckles]

Preston:
We didn't do that.

Kim:
Oh, he didn't do that with you guys?

Preston:
We did the pickle plug in the wall one, but we didn't do that one.

Kim:
Oh, I yeah, we're gonna talk about the pickle thing, Mr. Hassanalli.

Garett:
Yeah, if you want to.

Kim:
Oh yeah. And so in, of course, Hassanalli.

Garett:
We can jump back to Fox Creek if you, but yeah. Yeah.

Kim:
Anyway, with Mr. Hassanalli and the pickle thing, what happened was is that he wanted to do the pickle thing. And so he said, I need, I need some forks. And I said, well, I have two forks in here. They were my lunch forks. And he said, and I need an extension cord. And I said, because he didn't want to use the power supply that's safe. You know, the one that, you know, it has the resistors and everything on. Oh, I didn't want to use that like he's supposed to. So he comes into my classroom and he goes, do you have the keys to the fuse box? And I went, why? He said, well, I blew all the fuses on the far end of the school. I went, how? And I said, I mean, I was the science department head, right? And so he said, well, we're playing around with the pickle project and it worked really well. And so we went, I went down to look at it. And what he had done is, yes, you take the he cut the end off my extension cord, nice, and stripped it and wrapped it around the forks and then covered it in tape. So it was kind of safe. And then he put the forks into the pickle. And of course, it made the pickle, plug it into the wall, made the pickle glow yellow because of the sodium in it, right? Well, then he decided that what he should do is he wondered if you could get an olive to do that. What happened is the fork tines got too close and it arc welded the two forks together and then blew all the breakers in the far end of the school.

Garett:
Yeah, you're suddenly loading the whole 120 volts through it.

Preston:
I think that was in Travis's class. Travis told me that story.

Kim:
Oh, was it? Yeah, that was not good. So he not only did he wreck my extension cord, but he wrecked, he arc welded my two forks together. And I had to go down and hit all the breakers. And of course, Mrs. Gerard wanted to know what had happened. And the other thing is, is I said, Well, how did you unplug this? Well I just grabbed it and unplugged in. I'm like, and but I noticed with the extension cord, it was only a two prong. It didn't have the ground in it. He is so lucky that he didn't fry himself. [chuckles] That was Mr Hassanalli, you know, anyway, side tracking, but that's okay. Then after I taught in Fox Creek that I moved back to Grimshaw and I taught in a little school called Holy Family School. And it was a Catholic school. And they needed a chemistry physics teacher, even though I wasn't Catholic, I got to teach in a Catholic school. I taught there for seven years. Then I got tired of because I had to teach some elementary like I taught social three. [ugh] And yeah, some of the courses I taught were science grade one. That was interesting. Sink and float, and all those stuff. I'm like, Oh, I don't think I can do this. And of course, the teacher, teacher, teacher, like I am. Yeah, I'm not kind of for this. And so a job came up at Harry Balfour. And I applied for it. And that's my big move to the exciting city lights of Harry Balfour. I moved in '97. I moved there. And taught there and taught Harry Balfour taught science 7, 8, 9. I don't know if you guys didn't have me for science 7, 8, 9, did you? We didn't have me for any junior high. No, I first encountered the Browns in in Peace Wapiti, I think.

Garett:
Yeah.

Preston:
Yeah. Peace Wapiti School Division acquired the building and then put the high school there before I even think our older siblings were in junior high.

Kim:
Yeah. Yeah, so I didn't get to teach any I mean, didn't teach any of them at Harry Balfour. So then you guys all started moving over to excite, in 2001, we opened up Peace Wapiti Academy. Sad thing is, is that we will never forget the day that Peace Wapiti Academy opened to the students, it opened to the teachers earlier, but it opened on September 11, 2001.

Garett:
Oh wow.

Kim:
So the first day for the students was the day. Yes.

Preston:
September 11, 2001.

Kim:
So, we won't ever forget that day.

Garett:
Yeah, wow.

Kim:
Yeah, they had to delay the opening because the very first day they let us into the school was I think August 30th. And what happened was Mr. Mitchell, I don't know if you guys remember him. And he was walking down the hallway and there were some wires that were hanging down. And he reached up and just gave them a swat and they were live! And so the safety guy came in and said, Oh, no, no, we can't have students in here. So they didn't let you guys come in until September 11. So yeah, it definitely and then the school wasn't done at that point. So, you know, it's still, I mean, you guys lived through the gym, you know, the roof in the gym, not being done and no handles on the door, you know, on the doors and. But yeah, it's a Peace Wapiti was an excellent experience for me. It was, we had a really close staff. We had Mr. Derewianko and, you know, and it because we lived through, you know, we had some days where we had to wear mittens in the staff, in the school because, oh, well, the heat, they didn't really fix the heat problem thing very well. And all of a sudden, it was like minus 10 in the classrooms and everybody had to go get their coats in their mitts and it was definitely an interesting type of thing, but they've really developed. And I noticed Preston, you have your Titans thing on, your Titans basketball.

Preston:
I do. That was grade 9. That was in high school, this one. I got it too big for me so I could wear it when I'm older.

Kim:
That was cool.

Garett:
I remember going, because Peace Wapiti Academy went into the school of the old St. Joseph's High School.

Kim:
Yes.

Garett:
And I remember playing basketball against St. Joseph's and also just going to their new high school. I remember often thinking about how I kind of appreciated having the old school filled with new stuff instead of the new school filled with old stuff. The, like the gym equipment and sort of stuff that St. Joe's had was less quality than what PWA had because PWA got the old school and new stuff. It was kind of nice.

Kim:
Yeah. Yeah. We got the old building but we got all brand new stuff. So that was kind of a good thing. Like we got microscopes that were, you know, when they first gave us, when the Alberta government first gave us our budget on what we could do, they said, well, we haven't done this for a long time. So just order, they didn't give me a number what I could order for science equipment. So I just kept ordering and and I, you know, I ordered fifteen, eight hundred dollar microscopes and I didn't even blink an eye and I'm like, okay, keep on going. [chuckles] So, and those microscopes because when you buy quality like that, they last and they're, I mean, they're still using them today. So it's a good thing but that's what happens when you buy better quality stuff. It lasts a little bit longer. But the old big Vandegraaff is still there. It has Hassanalli's room.

Garett:
Yeah, I know that later, a few years later, like after I had graduated that the building had suffered a lot of roof, a lot of roof problems and yeah, lots of long renovations that didn't seem to go successfully for a while.

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
Yeah, that's that's the the old building, old problems.

Kim:
Yeah. And you know, it like when we first started, we only have the one wing, right? And then they opened up the the rest of it and then they took the gym a long time because you know, they they found that there were problems with the gym and it was leaking and and all that. But, and now they are they have two portables and they have so many people, well, they're over five hundred and forty kids and when you guys were there, it was like 300. Yeah.

Garett:
Maybe 400.

Preston:
Yeah. I think it was almost four when I graduated.

Kim:
Yeah. And it's, so like you go into the hallways now and you're like [ugh]. But I haven't started subbing yet. I haven't gotten that bored. [chuckles]

Garett:
[laughs]

Kim:
I'm like, no, we're good. We're good. We're good.

Garett:
How long have you been retired now?

Kim:
This is my second year. So, I retired in June of 2021. So, yeah, I have to admit at first it was super hard. But to be fair, like the the ATA told me that I should probably wait a year to start subbing just because I've been there for so long that it really wasn't, you know, it it was a good thing for me to take a break. And it was. And my nieces kept me really busy. So, because they moved and I went everywhere and of course, I was, you know, on Auntie patrol where I got to help the move and box and clean and do all those different kinds of things. So, that was kind of fun but you get to kind of reconnect with that family. So, that's as a teacher, that's one thing I find very difficult is because at least how I taught, it was kind of an all encompassing job type of thing. So, needless to say, it took over, you know, my life type of thing and so, I didn't get to, I saw my family but not as probably as much as I would have liked to but I still will say that teaching is a calling, right? With my science degree, could I have done things that probably would have made me more money. Yes. But I really enjoyed my job and that's you know, if you can pick a job that you love, that's a that's the most important thing.

Garett:
Yeah, it makes all the difference.

Kim:
It does.

Garett:
I don't know for sure because I didn't work with them, but I also found that the people I work with also makes a huge difference and many or most of the teachers at PWA were usually really good.

Kim:
Yeah. Oh, for sure. Like, I talked to Mr. Derewianko probably three or four times a year. He's living outside of Winnipeg now and he always says, you know, if you ever come by Winnipeg, you make sure you stop. Well, um I hate to say you this D but usually if I'm going anywhere, it's over top of Winnipeg. It's not landing in Winnipeg.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
But I keep in touch with quite a few of them. Mr. Padayas is outside Edmonton now and so he's a principal but I think is retiring this year. So, Mrs. Gerard is still the principal at PWA and keep in touch with a lot of those. Mrs. Terceros is still teaching math.

Garett:
That's amazing.

30:00 - Up to no good

Garett:
Did you have any feelings throughout your career as a teacher about doing more administration work or you just enjoyed the chemistry and teaching in your position so much you just didn't think you ever wanted to do that.

Kim:
Somebody asked me one time why did you not ever apply for administration job and I said because the extra pay that you get does not cover the cost of hair dye.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
I just, I find that administration you're always dealing with the politics of a school and I hate the politics of the school. I like working with the kids. I like doing the labs. I like doing those types of things. Dealing with the parents and the politics and like, oh that is so not my thing. I have a little bit of an intolerance for people that are like whiny and stuff like that and so when I, you know when you get some of the politics happening in a school you're like, well my kid, why didn't, I'm like oh no. I am so not good. So, Mrs. Gerard asked me, well how come you haven't applied for a vice principal job, [chuckles] because I don't want to. I like my little classroom and my little chemistry lab and you know setting off the fire alarm, which I did numerous times.

Preston:
But all in good fun.

Kim:
All in good fun.

Preston:
Garett set off the fire alarm too I remember.

Garett:
Yeah.

Preston:
At least twice.

Garett:
I did. Yeah. Yeah.

Kim:
Oh yes he did. Actually Garett I am the one that was the, I'm walking down the hallway and I went because I of course the chemistry teacher I went I was walking with Mr. Padayas and I said, Neil do you smell smoke? He goes no. I said no, no. I smell smoke. And so I went, I said, so we started walking down the hallway it starts getting thicker and thicker and remember walking into the shop but there you are you're just working on your project and looking up in the air and that air duct was flaming red and we're like we need to phone the fire department. [laughs] Whoops.

Garett:
I don't think I was, I don't think I was there for the actual fire. I think the Derewianko was there for it.

Kim:
Okay.

Garett:
Yeah I was the one that caused it. Because yeah you know I was, you know they have lots of ducts, air ducts, to get all the sawdust out of the shop. And I was using the belt sander on my metal project. So I had like little sparks coming off of it just going up into the ventilation system and they settled in a nice spot. And lots of oxygen flow from the constant HVAC system just pulling nice, new, fresh oxygen. And then a day later so when D was there on the weekend, it just took off. Had a fire going. Oh as well because D afterwards you know the next day so I had sent up all the sparks and then D the next day had sent up a nice fresh layer of new, dry sawdust.

Kim:
Yeah. Oh for sure. I mean and the bad thing about that is that should never happen because they should have had different, I mean the ducts weren't cleaning properly because they weren't exactly set up. Now the nice thing after you did that they set up the ducts all properly.

Garett:
Yeah there were a few things about that that I noticed in my time in high school. I would unintentionally get up to mischief break something and then make it better.

Kim:
Yeah. Oh for sure. That's a good thing. [laughs] That's a good thing. Cool. Cool. I don't remember too many bad stories about Preston though. I don't remember too many.

Preston:
Oh you know always hide it in the shadows of my brothers.

Kim:
[laughs]

Garett:
[chuckles]

Preston:
Sometimes even being called by their names in high school.

Kim:
And you know what I didn't ever have a problem with, I never mixed the two of you up. I don't think. Well because you were both very quite different. I still remember, who was it with the had the sitting in my classroom and always had the big quart jar sealers of peaches.

Garett:
That was definitely me.

Kim:
Oh yeah. [laughs] Yeah. I saw your mom not too long ago and she was, we shared about I said wow you probably don't have to do as many peaches as you used to do. [chuckles]

Garett:
Yeah that's just really results of my laziness in high school. Right because we had seminary at seven o'clock in the morning and we lived out of town. It was 15-minute drive and I would wake up at six forty five to get to seminary.

Kim:
Yeah and so you didn't make lunch.

Garett:
Yeah I would rush out the door with a, yeah a quart jar of peaches and a packet or two of instant oatmeal. Then after I'd get to school in the morning at like eight o'clock I would make my oatmeal and my little bowl and have a jar of peaches for lunch. [chuckles]

Kim:
Yeah. I mean whatever worked. [laughs]

Garett:
Yeah I guess but at the same time that's so many empty calories.

Kim:
Yeah. Oh yeah.

Garett:
I can't, it's astonishing to me still to see how, how I did but also just how like any teenager survives on just like the junk food that they they put in themselves. It's astonishing.

Kim:
Oh yeah and that was the age when you could do things like that right. So when you're 17 you can do things like that it won't matter. Now try that now and that's a whole different story.

Garett:
It is. A couple of the other things, mischief high school things that I got up to. I accidentally set off the fire alarm a couple more times when I was in art and we were doing silk screen printing.

Kim:
Oh yes.

Garett:
And I was using the heat gun to cure the silk screen ink. And I'd never done it before and I was doing it alone. Because they trusted me. And so I was curing this ink or like this paint ink on my shirt and then the ink starts bubbling and I was like I wonder if it's supposed to bubble.

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
Because I was melting it and like burning it. Fire alarm went off and then.

Kim:
Of course.

Garett:
It was like, okay that was me. It's like okay, the fireman is like, it's clear everything's fine we know what the problem was. So I go back inside and then I set it off again. Exactly the same way. [laughs]

Kim:
Yeah. Mrs. Johnson got blamed for all those. You're good. She usually took the blame for that.

Garett:
And the other mischief I got up to was with my friend Darren Brednow.

Kim:
Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Garett:
And, in Mrs. Terceros class, math class. Like it was, it was hard to focus during her lectures because it came naturally to me to understand functions and algebra and the work that we were doing. So Darren and I would tinker around on our calculators and we would program for fun and make games. But we also became a little bit more ambitious and we recreated the calculator memory erase screen so that we could show the this imitation of what the memory erase screen looks like. So yeah, to help teachers believe that our calculator had just been erased before a test so that we could keep all of our programming code on our calculator without having to rebuild it.

Kim:
Oh.

Garett:
But we, we were very careful we only gave it to one other person and just as like a test so they're like three of us that went into this test they must have been a final in like January or something. Yeah and three of us got into the test without having our calculators erased but we all trusted each other not to actually cheat.

Kim:
Yeah. [chuckles]

Garett:
I didn't cheat. But then we're like this is too powerful we cannot like, yeah we can't, we can't disseminate this to too many people [chuckles] this will be the end of science tests.

Kim:
That's when we take your calculator and we flip it over and we don't just punch it in we take the little a little pin and we hit the little you know major one and it's like oh that's bad.

Garett:
Yep. Yeah and the final one was I was with I was with Cole McCloud and we were waiting for art class to start so we were at the top of the stairs for art. And we were waiting. And we're like bored. And we're like, hey I wonder if we can pick the lock and we couldn't like actually pick the lock. But because the door closed, I guess if you're in the classroom the door would open outward so that you could leave the classroom easily. Which meant that it closed and which meant the latch would close from the outside in. Which meant that you could stick something thin in there and pull the door and the latch at the same time and you just open the door. And it worked! And we're like oh, oh this is not good.

Kim:
[laughs]

Garett:
Because the door was definitely locked and we just opened the door. And so we I think we told D or at least I told Derewianko. And he took a...

Preston:
A welding rod.

Garett:
Yeah he took a piece of metal, yeah a welding rod from the shop. And he hooked it and flattened it.

Preston:
I remember you and I and him went around.

Garett:
Yeah we just went around the whole school and we're like let's see what this works on and we found out that like...

Preston:
[chuckles] The computer lab!

Garett:
Yeah the computer lab and the science rooms all these like high traffic.

Preston:
High valuable.

Garett:
With high valuable things. They all just opened! Because the the little like rubber pieces that would keep the doors from closing.

Preston:
Too far.

Garett:
Yeah it just, they were worn out and it just closed too far and the mechanism failed.

Kim:
Wow.

Garett:
Yeah. Go ahead Preston.

Preston:
Yeah because there's a extra pin in the door latch that if it was open then you could actually push the latch but if it was closed which it was supposed to be then you couldn't pull that trick. The credit card trick or whatever you're going to call it.

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
Yeah so we found all the doors that would open and then once again found the system was broken and that there was this great power we had to like do all sorts of havoc. And then we turned it over to the teachers and the problem got corrected and it's just like that was my typical experience in high school.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Kim:
Yeah, but that's cool though.

Garett:
I just, I just felt too much of a like goody two shoes to to use the power for evil.

Kim:
[laughs] Yeah I was I was going to say, they're, lucky you were who you were because that could have been evil. That could have been evil.

Garett:
Yeah I had great times in high school.

Kim:
Yeah you did. Well I think all of you did and you were but you know what if you think about it those little bits that you guys did were I mean they were mischievous but they weren't they weren't evil. Right I don't think I can remember either one of you doing anything evil. Well no either one of you ever doing anything evil. Preston was always a little a little more quieter than than Garett but and that's that's kind of cool that you have that memory makes high school kind of you know not so boring. [laughs]

40:02 - Mischief Managed

Kim:
So I don't know if you guys remember this. I'm not sure I think it was in either Garett's class or it was one of you that was in the, when the the kid from the home ec class, the big, tall, six foot four big kid from the home ec class got jalapeno juice in their eye and I had to hold, me little me five foot nothing, having to try to hold this kid down into the eyewash station so we get the jalapeno juice out of him. And he's screaming and hollering and making a big commotion in the hallway.

Garett:
I don't, I don't recall that. But based on the description that sounds like Hawkin Fried.

Preston:
Yeah, I was going to say. [laughs]

Garett:
[chuckles] He was huge!

Kim:
It might have been Hawkin but holy man what a disaster that was. And then we, I had him sit in the back of my classroom because I wanted him to, I went to have his phone his mom and she had to come get him because I wanted him to go check at the hospital. She came and she said, ah quit being a baby and then she left. And I'm like, okay apparently he's just sitting in my classroom until he can go home after school on the bus.

Preston:
[chuckles] Got to allow parents to parent as they will. [laughs]

Kim:
Yeah it's like okay quit being a baby.

Garett:
Yeah there was another story you told me. It came about the, so we were doing the chemistry experiment where you, you know, combine the things together and you get that glow stick glow.

Preston:
Yeah.

Kim:
Oh yeah. Yeah.

Garett:
[chuckles] Yeah putting, that's not spicy, but you know, you shouldn't put that on, in places where you're sensitive. [chuckles]

Kim:
Yeah. Yeah it, I'm sure I told Preston the story. I think I told every kid in the whole place about that.

Preston:
How could you not tell that story? It's so embarrassing and so funny.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Preston:
And so dumb.

Kim:
Yeah, you take luminol and all this stuff and you put it on the boy part thinking it would be funny and then end up with like...

Preston:
A chemical burn! [chuckles]

Kim:
Yeah uh-huh. The worst part was having to send him and a buddy to the bathroom because, well, you can't leave it on there. And the, but the very, the worst part was actually phoning his mom and saying you need to take him to the hospital because he needs medical attention. And she's like well did he get it in his eye? No.

Garett and Preston:
[chuckle]

Kim:
Did he get it on his face? Well no.

All:
[laugh]

Kim:
And she finally, she said to me well you know where is this burn? I said well it's on his boy parts and she said oh my god!

Garett and Preston:
[chuckle]

Kim:
She came in to get him. And she was just so mad and so embarrassed. Yeah. Oh that was I told that story every year.

Garett:
Yeah I mean it's, it's really memorable. And it's sort of like, that human instinct of like the, the call of the void. Or right? Like it's just like a dark or like it's a cliff and your brain is just like, you should do the stupid thing.

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
And your, your rational brain's like no don't do that you'll die it'll really hurt for something.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Garett:
But he just gave into it and then it's just like everybody knows that you have like this call in your head that's like you should do that silly thing. But to have your story then be told year after year. You don't want to, you don't want to be the poster child.

Kim:
Yeah. The you know stupid human trick right? Like oh my gosh. But I will never forget that his partner beside him kept going putting his hand up and saying Miss Houlder I need to talk to you he needs to go to the bathroom. I said no he's a big boy he can wait and all of a sudden he put up, he goes, um no he needs to go now. And I said why does he need to go now? Well he put some glow on his boy parts and I went oh my gosh! And I was thinking then, I of course had to go to Mrs. Gerard and I had to write up a little accident report and you know how do you put this down on an accident report. It's like, I'm sure the guys in central office thought that was just absolutely hilarious.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Preston:
The thing is, you make it short and you make it blunt.

All:
[laugh]

Kim:
Yeah. It's like oh! And I see him every once in a while.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
As he walks by me in the grocery store I want to go, hey! Remember? Chemistry? Nope! We're not going to go there. [laughs]

Garett:
Yeah that would be pretty traumatic I wouldn't want to relive that either.

Kim:
No I don't think he probably does. But anyway, I'm trying to think of any other good stories that we had that...

Garett:
I mean, I do know one I think I told you but, yeah so you had told us at some point that you had a child, you know, barf all over you.

Kim:
Yes.

Garett:
And that I think it was a coconut smell.

Kim:
Oh yes it was.

Garett:
Yeah and then there was a student that, I was aware that it was happening, that they got a coconut extract and they left it open in your classroom. And it really, it was not nice.

Kim:
Yeah. I still to this day when I buy sunscreen or whatever cannot, cannot have the pina colada smell, the coconut smell, because it just brings back [ugh] memories to me because I have as a teacher have been projectile vomited on. Yeah not so cool. I mean some of the things that you sit back and you remember and you go, yeah that was not a good one. That's what happens when you teach little kids. So you know hopefully the you don't have any big kids doing that but the little kids type of thing. No, I mean Grande Prairie has been really good for me. I got to meet a lot of great people and a lot of great families and you get to see as you guys have kids and stuff like that it's really cool to watch. And you know and what I find I think most rewarding as a teacher is, yeah in the classroom is cool but what I really like is I like talking to you you know to ex-students or alumni. I got told that you guys are not ex-students, apparently, by one person they said no no we're not ex-students we're alumni. Okay.

Preston:
Just a former student.

Kim:
Former student yes but I love watching you guys as you go on to your careers and hear what you're doing and how that being in PWA was such a positive thing. And how it kind of shaped you. And I mean it shaped me and it shaped you type of thing because without the kids I wouldn't be the person I am today. But PWA was, I mean I think because we started out so small as a really tiny high school I think that was really a very positive thing because you got to know people on a personal level. Whereas if when you're in the COMP and there's like 850 kids, your chances of being on a personal level with a lot of the kids, you just don't get that. I mean they have classes of 40 kids. PWA now we have classes of 34, but when you guys were going through I mean 25 was big.

Garett:
Yeah, I wanted to ask you related to that sort of two parts. In your experience of being a teacher and sort of always teaching like for a long period of time the same age group to see how even though the kids that you teach are the same age but you know the world is changing and the way things change that sort of influences the way that the kids are and the way the kids see things? So there's that sort of question, what is that like? The other part of the question is sort of what you were alluding to, but so what kept you teaching? Teaching can be really hard.

Kim:
Yeah kids definitely have changed in the terms of they're much more technology savvy because when we were going through the COVID shutdown there were many days where, yeah Mr. Google was my best friend trying to get all these things online and doing this. Because they, I mean when they shut us down they didn't, it's like here, here's a computer. You're supposed to do a Google meet see you later. And they're like, [ugh] okay. And so I had to do that. But kids, I mean I had lots of kids that I would, you know, my screen is not sharing what I'm doing, and you know on the google meet some kid would say Miss Houlder just press, you know, open Apple this, that, I know it oh okay that works. But they're much more dependent on technology, which is not always good. I find that rather than talk to somebody they text somebody which I think is it's kind of a sad thing. You know, I think that with technology comes really good things like watching little kids do, you know, sit down with a computer or a tablet and watch what they are able to do is absolutely amazing. But I feel bad for the kids that are so technology bound that they don't want to go outside. They don't want to, they just you know, that being outside is is not something they want to do. And I think that's kind of sad. If they could find a balance I think that would be better. But on the other hand you take a look at, like I have a cousin who says to me all the time, you should never have to guess about anything in life because you can look it up. You can find information all over. And I think that kids nowadays have much more information at their fingertips but again that can be bad too. They, you know, because well, because sometimes you know the internet is not all, as we've discovered, the internet is not always right. So there's garbage out there too so they have to learn to become a good technology kind of citizen where they you know figure out what is true and what is not true. And to not always believe that everything that is on the internet is gospel, type of thing. But generally kids have, I mean everybody goes oh kids have changed so much. [uh] depends. If your expectations for them, in the years that I taught, as long as you had clear expectations for what you expected and stuff like that I think it it was still pretty fine. Sometimes parents expectations have definitely changed. Well my my child's going to be an engineer. Oh, I don't think so. They got 52 in Science 10, I'm thinking maybe no. But I mean I always had a had a chat with parents saying you know well my kid is going to university well okay but university is not the end all, I mean it's not the end all be all for everybody. You need breath in society and some parents are you know a little narrow-minded in terms of what their kid is good at. You can be really good at science and be dead poor or you I mean you can be really good in science and you can you know become an architect or you know electrician or all these different things right? So there's so many opportunities but I think it's getting better that people are starting to see trades as an opportunity for kids, type of thing. And why did I stay in teaching? I will honestly say that I have friends that are my age. I turn a very significant number this year, I don't want to even mention that significant number.

Garett and Preston:
[chuckle]

Kim:
And I have friends that are that age and when I go back to Grimshaw and I see them, they're old. [laughs] Teaching keeps you young because you keep up with the technology the kids are using, the lingo that the kids are using, this the music, all the things that and it really does it keeps you young. So it's really quite funny because I go home and I see some of my friends from my grad class and I'm like, yikes, you're old.

All:
[chuckle]

Kim:
You know, just the way they, some of their, you know some of the way that they talk, and you're like, gee grandpa. You know? Come on, you can you know? I have a friend that phoned me and said could you come up, my Bluetooth on my car has quit working. Can you come help me? I'm like fixing the Bluetooth is not a big deal. Apparently it is. But I loved my job. I absolutely did. It was something that, like I said, teaching is a, I really believe, teaching is a calling. That's why you have, I get very annoyed at people who say, you know, I'm not sure I like teaching. Well then why are you here? Because if you don't love teaching, if you don't love working with kids, please don't. Because your love of learning passes on to kids right? So if you love what you're doing your kids love doing your stuff. Setting off fire alarms and doing those things that's learning and teaching kids all sorts of really cool things. But I mean you guys have all had them, where I mean I have them in university, where seriously some of those professors I think taught the same lecture word for word for word for word for 25 years. Like okay I can I can fall asleep now because it's gonna be the same type of thing. He's reading from his textbook yay. It's something that I would tell the right person to go into it because you have to be the right person type of thing. A friend of mine is, works for ATCO, and he is, right now, he is in Drumheller teaching 40 to 50 year old men some of the new technology that's coming up from ATCO. And he said to me, how do you do this? He said, I'm ready to strangle them on the very first day. He said, they don't want to listen, and they don't want to do the work, and they're telling me that why do we have to do this, [chuckles] and I said don't give him an option type of thing.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
You know, he said, I don't know. I couldn't do this. He said, I would be in jail. [chuckles]

Garett:
I had not considered how, I think especially, how you get to sort of keep up with the music. Because I don't really listen to the new music because I came to like to experience the music that I like. And the new stuff isn't the same stuff and so I don't listen to it. But I mean if you're there in the classrooms and some kid is playing music loudly you get to hear all of it.

Kim:
Yeah and some of it you go, that is garbage.

Garett:
[laughs]

Kim:
And then you say something, you go, oh I actually kind of like this one. One of the kids figured out how to use his Bluetooth to hook up to my smart board in the middle of my lecture he could start playing this, I don't even know what it's called, this is a bunch of screaming.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
And all of a sudden I'd be teaching and this come across the speakers and I would just walk up and shut the speaker off and go, seriously man. Like I don't know why you think you're funny. But they learned how to hijack my smart board. What they forget is if you just walk up and pull the plug off out of the wall, it just goes away.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
And you know, they thought they were all smart and I said, well people think you're so funny and no one is going to own up to this I just pulled the plug on the smart board. They went oh. Here's the thing, if it doesn't have power doesn't work, aww. [chuckles]

54:51 - Reflections on Teaching

Garett:
Would you also be willing to talk to your experience as a chemistry teacher and over the years the way that science you know iterates and things change do you feel like you also were in the process of learning and picking up the science in terms of what new science has come out or do you felt like you were teaching the same stuff for many years?

Kim:
The unfortunate thing with Alberta learning is that they hadn't updated the curriculum. Now what would happen, like for example, in the curriculum now, still, because they haven't changed it even since I've left, is cloning was a new thing. Well, even though you had to cover what cloning was in Science 10, you had to say to them well, you know, they all thought this was going to be the new in big thing. It didn't turn out that well. That's why Dolly the sheep didn't, you know, live to a ripe old age. But then you had to talk about, you would actually start to integrate some of the things that you knew were changing. And you would you didn't necessarily follow Alberta curriculum exactly, even though you were supposed to, because if you did, you'd be teaching in the dark ages, right? Some of the things that they started to talk about, it would be like, well yeah, that was true 10 years ago, or 15 years ago. That's one thing that Alberta needs to do, is keep up. They need to to send out a little bullitin every once in a while and saying yeah, you know, don't talk so much about cloning. You can mention it and say yeah that was the thing that they tried and it wasn't as successful as they thought. But you might want to start talking about this and then maybe give us some websites or give the teachers websites to you know to get information. Most times the, Mr Hassanalli, the science nerds, like we would sit down at lunchtime and we'd have to talk about some of the new things that were happening. And then try to bring them into the curriculum because the government sure doesn't. Which is sad. Some of the things, Garett, that you've learned about how you know science from your from Physics 20 or Physics 30, a lot of some of that has changed right?

Garett:
Yeah, part of my experience in physics was actually, like you go through high school physics you basically go through all of university, like undergraduate university level physics, and you graduate and that brings you up to like 1930. In terms of like, you've now covered physics from the you know the ancient times, where they, you know, it was just natural philosophy, all the way up to 1930. And then you get to grad school and then you you reach in coursework maybe up to like the 1970s, and then you have to specialize to get anywhere near to the modern day to do research on.

Kim:
Oh yeah.

Garett:
I was also just reflecting now, the high school chemistry is sort of like the the branching point that covers all of the sort of things that you need to do for medical school, and pharmaceutical, like you were saying, but also even though it's not biology, it's very much in the realm of microbiology. And really incredible like, yeah like you were saying, if you're teaching about cloning, but you're not even talking about the CRISPR technology that's been you know rampant for the past decade or more. Then it's like you're really missing out on like the the stuff that's actually happening.

Kim:
Oh for sure. And you know, it's amazing how that, like I mean even Preston probably realizes that the stuff that they teach you in shop, basic stuff that they teach you in shop, some of that technology now you look at it go, seriously you're still learning how to do it that way?

Preston:
Well, a straight line will always be a straight line in a right angle always be a right angle.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
That's true. But I think...

Preston:
This theory has stood for thousands of years and it will still stand. [chuckles]

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
That is true. That is true. That's one thing about wood building.

Preston:
But the materials and the process that, how we construct and manipulate the materials of the world changes drastically.

Kim:
Oh for sure. Like the new insulation and stuff like that that you guys use now is amazing.

Garett:
Even, say even my experience of doing construction, with Preston as well. And then coming to Toronto and watching them build high rises. I've done a few, like I've helped do a few buildings. But when I watch them do high rises, it's like, it's a totally different method it's a totally different way of constructing it.

Kim:
Oh yeah.

Garett:
And I don't know what they're doing.

Kim:
No. It is totally amazing how, like a straight line is a straight line but you know how they put things together now and how they make things stronger.

Preston:
Yup.

Kim:
I got a new roof put on my house this past summer so I said to the guy, so how long before I have to replace these shingles again? He said, yeah don't worry about it you'll be long gone before they need replacing. [chuckles] I went, oh thank you for that. He said, no, no, I'm not saying that you're old, I'm just saying that the shingles I'm putting on there, he said they're good for a long long time. [chuckles] You know, it's you know, the technology and the science and everything has progressed and I think that it's absolutely cool. But what's, the I mean my niece is a medical doctor now and she's a surgeon. And some of the things that she tells me that they're doing now absolutely floor me. Like the things that they are able to do, you know? They can do in vitro operations on babies so that they're not born with you know spina bifida and stuff like it's just amazing --- just amazes me what they can do. You know, and of course we had the old, good old COVID and that's gonna always, with the science and everything that goes with it, that should be interesting. What I like about science is that it's always changing. And that's what kind of brought me towards being a science teacher because I just always found that kind of amazing, like how different things do, you know? And much to Mr. Hassanalli's dismay, chemistry is the building block of all science. But he always says it's physics. I disagree.

Garett:
[chuckles]

Kim:
I think it's, and of course yeah Mrs. Rief always says it's a bio. And I'm like no, no. [chuckles]

Preston:
It's definitely not biology.

All:
[laugh]

Preston:
We can agree on that one.

Kim:
Yeah. No doubt.

Garett:
I've made it this far and I still have never taken a full biology class. Because I didn't take one in high school and the breadth course that I took in university they had like, well they were trying things out. They wanted to do a more cross disciplinary thing. And the biology class I took was a bio and literature class. So we read literature things that talked about biological things but we didn't go into like the nitty gritty details of bio. So yeah, I've made it this far and still have hardly touched biology. Which is a little bit of a shame because it's fascinating.

Kim:
Oh yeah. It can be really fascinating. I found bio okay. I was much more, I like the math, right? I like the math that was in chemistry and physics. And so that's why I was a, had a double major on that. Because that's what I, I like'd to be able to do the math with it. It made more sense to me. And I wasn't big into memorizing.

Garett:
Yeah, in terms of curriculum I don't know the Alberta curriculum as well as you do. But the biology stuff that I've seen, especially in studying physics, is done by biophysicists is very math-heavy and very computational and intensely difficult. I also learned that biophysics was established by Erwin Schrodinger, famous for the Schrodinger equation.

Kim:
Nice.

Garett:
I guess after coming up with this incredible equation, just sort of started dabbling in how do the building blocks of atoms come together to make life? And he started dabbling in that.

Kim:
Which is very cool.

Garett:
Yeah like many people for the middle of the 20th century, didn't get very far in terms of applying physics to biology. There are a lot of complicated steps to go from carbon atoms to life.

Kim:
Oh yeah.

Garett:
[chuckles] So it's a big step.

Kim:
Oh for sure I can't, I guess the one thing too with biology is now they're just they're getting better equipment so they can figure out more of the biological steps right so they can actually see things.

Garett:
And then even in a few more years, bringing it together, the Mars rover is dropping samples to be returned back to Earth. So we'll be able to take samples from Mars back to Earth and analyze them in a lab for biosignatures.

Kim:
Yeah, there's so much, all you could do. Would you ever want to do that? [chuckles]

Garett:
No.

Kim:
No?

Garett:
I've really enjoyed my career in physics so far, but there are other parts that I really love too about learning and about the work that I do. It's also, I'm currently working on a PhD where I study the solar system and I'm essentially working on the same problem that Newton did. And it's just like, it's been, it's been 400 years and I can do a PhD on the topic that Newton wrote the Principia on, just because it's still not solved and there's still more to learn. But it's also, [chuckles] somebody asked what contribution my work has to humanity? And it's like, [uh] nothing? Like humans don't, because there's like no part of humanity that is concerned or anxious, so there's no problem that's solved, knowing whether or not Mercury is going to go unstable in five billion years or ten billion years. That's not a problem that concerns humanity. It's not solving anyone's problems. There's no crisis here.

Preston:
[chuckles]

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
Yet, I get to sit here month after month, and just think about the problem and work on the problem. It's just, you know maybe there's more rewarding things out there. I enjoy it. I really do enjoy it, but it's a little bit like, [hmm] it's been fun.

Kim:
But it's, you know, if it's, as long as it's interesting, right? It's not, that's what the the thing is.

Garett:
Yeah.

Kim:
So I think we've covered about everything.

Garett:
We yeah we could turn a little more reflective if you want on some of the perspective questions. How your feelings towards the Peace Country have evolved over the years or any life lessons you'd want to share?

Kim:
Yeah, life lessons. I think living in the Peace Country, one thing I think I've really found in my life is the importance of working with people and being kind to people. Because everybody, in some time in their life, is going to need help, right? Whether it be tomorrow or maybe it's 10 years from now or whatever it is. I think that living in the Peace Country and having that bond between people is very important. I know that you know living in a city like Toronto like you you still find people that are really nice and I think that that is so important. Like for example, we went to New York City and everybody had always told us that New York City like don't expect anyone nice to you. That's a horrible type of city. And we got lost and I'm standing there looking at a map and going I have no idea where we are right now. And we're having issues with our cell phones and everything like that and this man in a three-piece suit, you know, walked up and he said, can I help you? Yes! We have no idea where we are. We're supposed to be going here. And he said, no problem. He said, just go down here one block, turn left, that's where you're going to be. And you know, so whether you're in Northern Alberta or wherever you are I think having those connections with people and just being kind to one another. And COVID hasn't been a good thing with that. I think that it kind of divided us and I think that we're on our way back, like people are starting to be kind to one another again. And having a little understanding and helping. And, you know like, it's just, I think that's super important for the world around us, for us to do that. And I think that, you know, having the little small town kind of attitude type of thing, where you know you see somebody stuck on the side of the road, you just don't drive by and wave. You see if you could stop and help them or or whatever it is. And I think that that will go a long way. How I think Peace Country has changed over the years? It was really small town, whether it be Grande Prairie, whether it be Peace River, whether it be Grimshaw, or whatever was really small town. And for a while during COVID, it got really ugly. Because I'm a science teacher and I stand very firmly on vaccinations and I had to learn as well that you have to respect people's opinions. I think I'm starting to see the kindness thing come back. I think if everybody could just be a little more kind and tolerant, and I do think that it's coming back.

Garett:
Yeah. I think you bring up a good point about that in terms of, like the pandemic was, especially in the more intense lockdown times, was really stressful there was lots of uncertainty going on. And everybody was feeling it and trying to manage that. And it just became frustrating because people had different ways of reacting to it and those ways clashed. But they felt like the way that they were handling it was the only way that they felt like they could handle it, or that they should handle it, or that it should be handled. And then those just clashed because it was just so much like intensity of emotion that it was just too difficult to let it go. And I think you're right that it's been better now that things have sort of settled down.

Kim:
Yeah and people are slowly coming back. I mean we still have some dumb people that sometimes you just have to take a breath and go, okay. They were going to say dumb things about smallpox or whatever, so it really doesn't, there's always going to be some people that have a weird conspiracy thing kind going and you just kind of kind of say, well, it doesn't really effect me I'm going to walk away. But you're right when we, first when the pandemic came out, it was ugly. No, I think that things are on the upswing and I think that, hopefully, better things are going to come. I'm hoping people settle down and start being kind to one another. And that Canada can come back and start being a little better nation. I don't know, you get to see some Canadians where you go, where are you born? [chuckles] Anyway, let's see, life lessons. Life lesson, I think life lessons that that being in northern Alberta has taught me, the idea of being a good neighbour. The idea of keeping your word. I think that, by my own bringing up of who I was brought up by my parents and everything like that, that keeping your word is a, that's a huge life lesson. And that, you know, that you stand by your word and you say you're going to do something, you're going to do a good job, you do a good job. And to be proud of where you come from and you know there's there's some people that I grew up with that, oh Grimshaw ew, ew. You know, what a gross horrible place. But it's made you who you are, right? Whether you stay there two years, or whether you stay 50 years, you know? It does make you who you are and I think that that's very, very important.

Garett:
Thank you.

Kim:
Yeah.

Garett:
Yeah, I think we'll probably wrap up now.

Kim:
Yeah, but I mean we went through some really cool things. I really enjoyed talking to you guys. It was a fun experience.

Preston:
Yeah, thank you.

Garett:
We're so grateful to talk with you too. It has been a very long time since we've had a chat and it's been a number of years since I popped by the high school on my visits home. My visits to Grande Prairie were fewer as I got married and had a kid.

Kim:
Yeah. Very true. And both of you are so busy with your, you know, your jobs in your lives that it, just that's just the way it goes kind of thing.

Garett:
But thank you for sharing lots of good stories with us lots of good laughs we really appreciate it.

Kim:
Yeah. [chuckles] Lots of great memories.

Preston:
I do think most people can relate to high school in some way or another, especially in North America.

Kim:
Very true. And like they said high school was, you know, for some people was the best time of their lives, sometimes not so much, but you know for generally some really good memories.

Garett:
Yeah. We're also really grateful to all of our listeners, especially those who listen towards the end of the episode. As always, if you want to give us feedback, or share a story for us to talk about, you can email us at lifenorthofthe54th@gmail.com. You can also check us out on our website at peacecountrylife.ca.

Preston:
Yes thank you so much.

Kim:
Thank you.

Garett:
Thank you, Kim. We will hopefully see you around plenty more times.

Kim:
Yeah, for sure.

Garett:
Hopefully, have plenty more conversations.

Kim:
For sure [chuckles].

Garett:
Take care.

Kim:
Take care

Garett:
Bye now.

Preston:
Bye.

Kim:
Bye.

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