‘Baking and food are part of me and gave me the experience of becoming a baker in my second career.’

Heidi Riegler, Baldwin

“I was born in Graz, Austria. We baked a lot as kids. Baking and food are part of me and gave me the experience of becoming a baker in my second career. I never thought I would do what I’m doing now.

“I studied stage directing and performing arts management when I came here. I did PR and communications for a very long time. But at one point, I wanted to do something else, something with my hands. Baking kind of fell into my lap.

“I did some cookie-tasting parties around the holidays, and my friends said we should sell them. I decided to try it out. Then it got bigger and bigger. I went to a trade show at the Javits Center called Fancy Food. My products have been featured in The New York Times six times now. I also got a business, wholesale relationship with William-Sonoma.

It is great to be independent, run your own business, start something that you didn’t even think you would ever do and succeed on your own pace.

“I still had not quit my PR career, but when COVID hit, I lost my last clients because they all had to shut down. I said, ‘OK, I guess I have to bake more now,’ and jumped into baking full time. I opened the Vienna Cookie Co. in Baldwin.

“We only specialize in Austrian and German cookies and cakes. Often, I hear, ‘This reminds me of my grandma’s or mom’s recipe.’ It’s not just selling a cookie or a cake. It is like bringing a memory back and keeping the tradition going. If that cake reminds them of their grandmother, maybe they will try to make it themselves.

“I do offer baking classes and try to teach people so they won’t forget these types of recipes or techniques. My baking classes teach people how to make these cakes or cookies so that this art form doesn’t die out. That is all very rewarding.

“In the summer, we always do farmers markets all over Long Island. Many people come back to us and the little exchanges and stories we hear — it all becomes like a little family. It is great to be independent, run your own business, start something that you didn’t even think you would ever do and succeed on your own pace.

“It is a lot of work and effort — no vacation and no free days during the week. But it’s worth it. It’s your own, and you share it with other people. I just want to continue growing and introduce old, forgotten recipes back on the dessert table. I am really loving it.”

Interviewed by Victoria Bell

‘That was the first time I had to learn to walk again, and it took me three years. The next would be after a stroke – the start of my fight against cancer.’

Sean Wachter, Baldwin

“I’ve always been an athlete. I played football and lacrosse and later turned to wrestling. I was a 300-pound offensive lineman in college. Later, I became the Baldwin district strength and conditioning coach and taught my students how to use the weight room properly. I loved teaching students and coaching football, but unfortunately, they had to cut my position. I come from a family of law enforcement, so I set out to become a police officer. In 2012, while still working towards becoming a police officer, I got into a really bad accident that changed the course of my life. I broke my neck and back, and I couldn’t walk. That was the first time I had to learn to walk again, and it took me three years. The next would be after a stroke – the start of my fight against cancer.

“Going into the spring of 2016, I was dealing with a whole bunch of health ailments that weren’t adding up. I went to all of my doctors and hospitals, but they kept brushing me off. My aunt Robin passed away from cancer during this time, and I gave the eulogy. I spoke about how she just kept living her life, even ignoring doctors’ orders and traveling. She kept living. I ended the speech by saying how if I ever got cancer, my aunt Robin was an example of how to live life with it. One month later, I was diagnosed with cancer.

“At the time, I was 31 years old and living by myself. I was so unwell, still unsure what the health ailments were at the time, and doctors kept dismissing me. I told my dad that something wasn’t right. I was scared. I was having these bad headaches and vomiting. The room was spinning, and my legs were wobbly. I told him it wasn’t related to my previous neck injury, and he believed me; I was never one to complain about being in pain. My parents lived close by, so I stayed with them for a bit. Unfortunately, they had to clean out my aunt Robin’s home, so I stayed back. Not even 10 minutes after they left, I wound up having a massive stroke. My Bell’s palsy from my neck injury flared up. I was puking, and my legs gave out. Luckily, I was able to mash enough buttons together on my phone to reach my dad. He could hear me slurring my speech. He raced back to get me, dragging me into the car to the hospital.”

If I was going down, I’d be going down swinging.

“When I got to the hospital, I was vomiting, and my face was drooping, and yet they put me in the non-emergency area. I demanded a CT scan. Within seconds, the machine showed a stroke and a golf ball-size tumor on my cerebellum.

“I had to get a couple of blood transfusions and prepped for surgery. After the surgery, my father told me I have cancer, and I replied, ‘Sir, let’s take care of this.’ My mom said she’s never been more proud of me. I was there for another three weeks before transferring to Sloan Kettering. I began making peace with the idea that this might be my time. I thought I had lived a full life, but then I realized that my mother would lose her son. My grandmother would lose her grandson. My team would lose their teammate. I realized that I had so many people around me. My former football teammates made a spreadsheet to keep track of who would hang out and watch games with me on different days. I had all of these people around me, and I wanted to live for them.

“I kept trudging along, but unfortunately, I started having really nasty seizures, and one massive seizure caused my brain activity to cease for a short moment. They did some spinal taps and found that I had a rare complication. The cancer spread to my cerebral spinal cord fluid. My liver was failing, and I had stage 4 melanoma with leptomeningeal disease. I was given 12 weeks to live. It was a little knee-weakening when I got that phone call at night, and they told me to get my affairs in order. Now more than ever, I didn’t want to go out without a fight. If I was going down, I’d be going down swinging.

“One of my doctors went through the 28 rare genetic mutations I had and used them to develop my treatment plan of targeted chemotherapy. Her research was funded by the Jimmy V Foundation. I had tried numerous chemotherapies, but each one caused some sort of organ failure. We finally arrived at two oral chemos, Tafinlar and Mekinist, along with Opdivo immunotherapy. Amazingly, these worked and started to turn the scans around. They stopped the disease from progressing. Those 12 weeks passed, and I had extra time now. Within a year, a lot of brain metastases that I had started to slowly go away.”

That was the last time I ever had to spend a night at Sloan Kettering.

“As things started to stabilize, I became more thankful for the time I had, and I took my friends on trips. I had a very morbid sense of humor during that time and called the trips my ‘death tour.’ I used humor as a coping mechanism. If you can’t laugh, then why bother? It helped me get through that time. I volunteered and coached football again. It was such a rewarding experience to be back. It kept my brain sharp. At the end of the 2017 season, I went on a cross-country trip and beat myself up a bit too much. It put me back in the hospital for a week. That was the last time I ever had to spend a night at Sloan Kettering.

“I decided to put myself out there, but it was difficult. My body wasn’t the same – my weight fluctuated so much due to cancer. I had 20-plus years of being a meathead, and then all of a sudden, I wasn’t a big, muscular guy anymore. I didn’t look the same.

“I met my now-wife on a dating app at the end of 2017. I swiped right and she swiped left. I went on Facebook and thought, what do I have to lose? I messaged her, and we went on our first date – it was six hours long. Funny enough, we were actually both born in Baldwin 13 days apart and lived on the same block. We were connected without even knowing. After a few months of dating, she asked if I wanted to raise her daughter with her. I was always the guy that said I never wanted to buy a house or get married or have kids. She changed my mind. Raising my stepdaughter is the thing I am most proud of. I can credit my cancer recovery to my brain, to doctors, to medicine, but my wife and stepdaughter actually gave me something to live for. I wanted to push myself even harder. She was trusting me with such a great responsibility, and I wanted to be the best I could be for both of them. My wife and I welcomed a miracle baby in September. Cancer was a beautiful thing that happened to me because it really changed my life for the better. It made me appreciate things I was taking for granted.

“During COVID, they had to suspend my treatment. It was three months of just the chemo pills and no infusions. When we began treatment again, they took scans and were shocked that they looked even better. My lumbar puncture came back exceptionally clean.”

There was no one else reported in the world to have beat the rare cancer that I did. I was the first one.

“In February of 2021, I rang the bell and was officially done with my infusion therapy. I was still on oral chemo pills, but done with going in every other week for infusions. These infusions saved my life. Such a small number of people actually respond to them, and I was a top responder to the drug. In March of 2022, I stopped taking the oral chemo pills. The lumbar puncture came back crystal clean again. The DNA test came back as if it were an erroneous result – not because the sample was poor, but because the traces of cancer cells were all dead tissue and so minuscule. The computer was barely able to pick them up. There was no one else reported in the world to have beat the rare cancer that I did. I was the first one.

“I’ve since started a YouTube fitness page because working out is so important to me, especially after having nine surgeries and cancer. Just because your body’s been destroyed doesn’t mean you can’t rebuild yourself again. I credit so much of my recovery to exercise. Wrestling has been a way for me to connect with my stepdaughter on a different level. Wrestling became our thing. I took her to a match and bought premium tickets to get us backstage. I rented a limo for us, and on the way there was when I received the news that I was certified cancer-free. I am the only documented case of surviving this cancer in the world. That’s when I shared with her that I was sick for a while. She’s 8 years old now, and so I didn’t want her to worry during that time.

“My friends and family all wanted to celebrate after I got that call, but I carry survivor’s guilt with me. I’ve seen so many people suffer and pass. It didn’t feel right in my mind to celebrate. We came up with the idea of a fundraiser for Sloan Kettering. I chatted with my buddies, and they said I should get back in the wrestling ring as entertainment for it. I wrestled back in high school, but I hadn’t been in a wrestling ring in about 12 years. My buddies pushed me to do it, and we raised some good money.

“I thought that was going to be it for wrestling. I thought it was a one and done, but then a year later, my stepdaughter said she was upset she wasn’t at the fundraiser to watch me wrestle.”

I wouldn’t be wrestling right now if it weren’t for everything I went through.

“A friend of mine passed away, and so we put together the Captain Michael Fischer Memorial Wrestling Fundraiser in his honor. The proceeds went to St. Jude’s, which was his family’s choosing. The fundraiser is what he would’ve wanted. I poured my heart and soul into it. We had over 700 people in attendance. I trained with a childhood friend of mine for months beforehand, and they put us in a tag team title match against two local wrestlers. We won.

“The V Foundation, which was pivotal in my recovery, put me in contact with WWE tag team champion Mike Mondo, and we trained together for three months for a trios championship. We made it to the finals. After that, I was approached by different cancer organizations to be a spokesperson and advocate through wrestling. My goal is to continue showing people that they can get up. I got knocked on my ass, and I am technically disabled, but I don’t want to live a life where I’m just sitting around.

“Wrestling is art. It’s my version of expression. I go out there to show other people with cancer that they can keep living life and chasing their dreams. Don’t let it stop you.

“I do this for the cancer community, and I do this to show my girls they can achieve their dreams and advocate for others. The championship belts hanging on the wall and my tattoos are reminders. I’m covered in tattoos related to cancer, and they’re for the people who were there for me. I have a melanoma ribbon tattooed on my arm along with a Sloan logo, and it represents the beautiful folks that work at Sloan and the brothers and sisters I have that were not as fortunate as I’ve been.

“I want to inspire people and to try and be a beacon of hope. If people are getting something out of what I’m doing, then I would go through cancer all over again, because then it was all worth it. I wasn’t a choirboy, nor was I the devil, but if I was to not live a life of service on the second go around that I’ve been given, I’d be ashamed. I’m living my dream to show others that they can live theirs too. I wouldn’t be wrestling right now if it weren’t for everything I went through.”

Interviewed by Melanie Gulbas

‘The great thing about jazz is, to me, improvised music: You’re seeing the brushstrokes put on there in the moment.’

Matt Wilson, Baldwin

“I like to think of myself as a musical ‘impresario’ because it’s more vivid than ‘entrepreneur.’ Nothing against entrepreneurs, but impresario means you’re embracing the whole production aspect. In our show at Birdland, for our new album ‘Good Trouble,’ I was thinking a lot about the presentation of the music. I had banners made to put on the stands, and I had temporary tattoos made.

The great thing about jazz is, to me, improvised music: You’re seeing the brushstrokes put on there in the moment. I want the presentation to be together, but I don’t want it to be routine. I’d much rather have something go way above and have something else fail, rather than have everything be at that midlevel.

He let me try out his drums — and it felt like home.

“In the early ’70s, I was in first or second grade, and I saw an episode of ‘Here’s Lucy’ where Lucy and her son go to see Buddy Rich, the legendary drummer. I always liked music as a kid, and when I saw that, it started. Then our Lutheran church, that was in Knoxville, Illinois, where I grew up, did a musical. They hired high school kids as musicians. I still remember the drummer, Rex. He let me try out his drums — and it felt like home.

“I started lessons, and we would play at PTA meetings, churches. I was in a rock band when I was 15. Then I went to Wichita State as a percussion major.

“Because I’m teaching, I’m around great young people and great colleagues. I want to invite people in, whether it’s a workshop, at the community garden or our Avant Yarde Jazz Festival.

One time, I was doing a workshop at a convention, and I hired this vending company that for $75 would deliver a popcorn machine. So people walk in, people I knew or I met there, and I say, ‘Come here, you can make the popcorn and hand it out.’ They’re walking in thinking they’re going to a drum clinic, which it is, but then they’re handing out popcorn. They’re smelling it and saying, ‘What’s going on?’ It gets them; they’re going to pay a little more attention.

Once in a while, I have a character I do: ‘The Allower,’ and I have a shirt with an insignia that I kind of dramatically reveal. I want people to play their best — I don’t know what that is all the time. But I want to ‘allow’ them to try their thing.”

Interviewed by Rosemary Olander Beach

‘As a Black female business leader, I’ve learned the keys to success consist of networking, research, perseverance and resilience.’

Sharon Solomon, Baldwin

“My inspiration is my dad. He successfully migrated from Liberia and obtained a PhD in chemistry from Columbia University. He started Devonque in a small warehouse in Jamaica, Queens in 1972. He developed scents for brands such as Tide, Close-Up toothpaste and a cologne for Muhammad Ali.

“I grew up in a laboratory, and it inspires me to do what I do today with candles. My dad taught me the power of scent. An aroma can elicit memories, enhance moods or set a tone, depending on the occasion. It revitalizes our senses and makes us remember a time when we were happy. Candles and fragrance creation are my passion.

“My dad was always about family and community as well. As an immigrant, he kept our doors open for family members who came here for opportunity too. My love of fragrances and natural products runs deep in our company DNA for generations.

Looking for a way to help, I developed a specific candle line, Candles of Hope, that donates half the proceeds of the sale to charity.

“In 2022, we developed a platform using our candles that helps solve the problem with grassroots and nonprofit organizations lacking funding to do the great work they accomplish. Along with leading my family business, I’m the program coordinator for the runaway homeless youth shelter in Nassau County for the Family & Children’s Association. Time and again, the needs outweigh the funding. Organizations that do great work are constantly fundraising to provide services.

“Looking for a way to help, I developed a specific candle line, Candles of Hope, that donates half the proceeds of the sale to charity. It’s 100% virtual. All the organizations have to do is go to the website and sign up.

“I’ve been lucky enough to partner with over 200 organizations. It makes me feel good to know that I’m bridging a gap between funding and the work these programs do. We feel our platform will continue its rapid growth.

“As a Black female business leader, I have learned the keys to success consist of networking, research, perseverance and resilience. There are many resources available that can really take your business to the next level. You have to do your research. Knowing my dad is looking down on me while others look up to me pushes me to keep our legacy going.”

Interviewed by Liza N. Burby

‘I had low self-esteem as a child. Because I wasn’t confident, I was determined to help others, particularly children.’

Baldwin

“I had low self-esteem as a child. Because I wasn’t confident, I was determined to help others, particularly children. My husband, a lawyer and public defender, gave me the gift of his love and support. His parents, who fought for human rights, served as role models for me. They met and fell in love when Michael was organizing the men’s laundry workers and Rose was organizing the women’s laundry workers!

“I chose a career in early childhood education and had the joy of working with the youngest of children as both a teacher and administrator. I focused on making them feel special, important and loved. I carried this into my adulthood and looked for opportunities to help others whenever I could. Over the years, my husband and I have opened our homes to over 100 people: victims of abuse, students, even strangers who were stranded at Kennedy Airport in 2010 because of the volcanoes in Iceland!

I hope to continue helping others gain confidence and be successful!

“Our children have made us proud: Grey, being nonbinary, is a champion for the LBGTQ+ community; Joanna works with autistic children; her husband, Josh, also is a caring teacher; my granddaughter, Allison, 11, sold homemade magnets and keychains and gave the proceeds to the Innocence Project.

“A turning point for me came on the day a friend invited me to join the National Council of Jewish Women. We developed the Back 2 School Store for economically challenged families, and I’ve been honored to be the coordinator since its inception in 2012. Each summer, the children come to a venue, separate from their parents/guardians, and choose new and free winter coats, sneakers, socks, underwear, T-shirts, pants, hoodies, books, school supplies, stuffed animals, and toothbrushes and toothpaste. They are escorted through the ‘store’ by their own personal shopper, one of our 300 volunteers. We empower children to make decisions. It makes them feel important.

“The reactions are precious. One little girl said, ‘I am so happy with my new shirt that my feet are dancing.’ Another child was so enamored with her new clothes that, despite the heat outside, she refused to take off her winter coat, hoodie and hat. I hope to continue helping others gain confidence and be successful!”

Interviewed by Saul Schachter

‘I didn’t have anything. How could I even talk to a psychologist or therapist without insurance? They turned me away.’

Baldwin

“I was a very angry teenager. I was a magnet for fights and being in the wrong environments and choosing the wrong things. I was always really good at school and even skipped a grade and was put into a special program, but then I started to skip classes and started self-sabotaging. I spiraled into a realm of darkness, and in my last year of college, I got pregnant with my daughter. I didn’t have a job at that time. I didn’t have insurance. I didn’t have anything. How could I even talk to a psychologist or therapist without insurance? I was on the subway coming back from school; I was in such a dark place that I made that call to the psychologist. They turned me away. That phone call was so detrimental because I couldn’t see a way out, and I just wanted help. I even called a suicide hotline, and guess what: I was put on hold.

“Everything was catching up to me. On the outside, I was always smiling and laughing. I seemed like such a happy person. My friends called me ‘Giggles,’ but deep down, it was such a tough pain – it became a physical pain. Only after I made myself a better person and faced my darkness did the smiles and laughter become real. I decided to try and help myself in any way I could. I went to the library and got self-help books and tried self-diagnosing myself. I was going to college for psychology, so I tried applying the things I was learning to myself.

“Mental health is so important, and I realized that I was hiding from what happened. I never faced the darkness. The darkest part of my life was from 5 years to 8 years old, I was sexually molested multiple times. I kept the guilt and didn’t say anything because I was told not to. I was told I would get in trouble if I spoke up. It followed me and I carried that with me. I was angry. I was an angry teenager at my parents because I felt like they should have done a better job to protect me. My daughter took me out of the darkness. Once I understood what happened to me, I wanted to make sure that never happens with her. That was the biggest turning point for me. I needed to be a better person for her so she could have a good role model. I had to be the strength that she needed. She saved me.

I want people to never give up on their dreams. It is possible. You have the ability to fly, just by different means. Maybe you can’t be Superman, but you can be a pilot.

“Eventually, after having my daughter and getting insurance, I was able to find a therapist. I still have moments, but they’re not so dark anymore. Now I realize I’m allowed to have a bad moment because I’m human. Knowing how to get out of that moment and situation is so important. If what happened to me didn’t happen, then I wouldn’t be equipped with the knowledge that I have now to share with not only my daughter, but everyone. Life happens for you, not to you.

“Since then, I have been doing as much as I can to try and help others. I wrote a children’s book called ‘Superhero Within Me.’ My daughter, Isabella, had such a large part in this story and truly inspired it. She would ask me to read bedtime stories, and then I started making up my own, but I incorporated this one superhero that she would pretend to be with my niece. She would ask me to keep telling her the same story, so I started writing it down until it turned into a book. I couldn’t find an illustrator that I connected with and as my daughter got older. I realized she loved drawing, so she ended up illustrating the entire book. She was so passionate about it, and it was a great bonding experience for us.

“The book is about the abilities we have within ourselves. It follows a character that my daughter created and used to pretend to be. The character, Uni, has a passion for being a superhero and eventually becomes an FBI agent. I want people to never give up on their dreams. It is possible. You have the ability to fly, just by different means. Maybe you can’t be Superman, but you can be a pilot. I really hope people don’t ever give up on their dreams. Even as adults, we all have that little child within ourselves and those passions we’ve carried. We should never give up on things we enjoy, like dancing or singing, or anything that makes us happy and gives us joy. We need to hold on to that. The combination of being a mom and finding something that I loved, photography, has helped me along the way.

There is always hope and a gleam of light. When you find it, hold on to it because it gets a little bit brighter the more you focus on it.

“I have nieces and nephews who come to me when they need to talk, and I love making other people happy. If I can make someone happy or change their life, then that’s literally priceless. Whenever someone talks to me about their problems, I know I was put there at that moment for a reason – to be that person that I didn’t have when I needed it. I want to be that hope for someone else. The first thing I did after healing is that I called the suicide hotline again. This time, I volunteered with them. Having those kinds of conversations with people who needed my help was my way of giving back and to not hold it against the hotline. I understood why they weren’t there for me and why they couldn’t answer my call – they didn’t have enough volunteers.

“It’s just a broken system, not enough people to help. And if you are able to find help, if you don’t have insurance, you can’t get it. I recently created GoSinergy, which is a place where students can get mentored and get direction on their life and career goals. It focuses on academics, but it’s also just a place for them to talk about anything they want with a mentor. I want them to provide a safe space to help guide students.

“About a year ago, I had to explain to my daughter why I didn’t want her sleeping over at people’s houses. I am very protective of Isabella, and I do let her hang out with her friends, but I don’t allow sleepovers. I didn’t tell her my full story, but I wanted her to be aware that bad things can happen. She’s still young, but it’s important to have open conversations and I hope parents take that from my story.

“I want kids to know that if something bad ever happens, that it is never their fault, and they are never in the wrong. I hope people know that everything is momentary. I don’t want anyone who is going through a tough situation to think, ‘This is the end.’ There is always hope and a gleam of light. When you find it, hold on to it because it gets a little bit brighter the more you focus on it. My daughter is what pulled me through. Everything that I needed when I was younger, I put into the person I am today to be that for my daughter.”

‘I’m trying to break that bubble in the suburbs. Hip-hop culture. Graffiti culture. All that visual language. You don’t have to be afraid of that. That’s not going to make your neighborhood dangerous or anything.’

Baldwin

“I’m a Long Island guy. I don’t claim to be from anywhere else. I graduated from Baldwin and from a kid, ‘Subway Art’ and ‘Aerosol Art’ and all those books, when those came out, I literally just looked at them all day long and studied them.

“I never cut class or anything because I just would sit in class and draw. I didn’t take any notes, but I remembered everything. Even when I paint now, I don’t listen to music. I just put on a podcast, or I run a show over and over because I soak up everything while I’m drawing and painting.

“I went to art school and tried to get jobs after I graduated and just got really deflated. I felt very rejected because I didn’t do the right thing in school as far as the right internships and independent studies. I just did the classes and then I was out running around the city because it was something completely new to me.

“I’m trying to break that bubble in the suburbs. Hip-hop culture. Graffiti culture. All that visual language. You don’t have to be afraid of that. That’s not going to make your neighborhood dangerous or anything. Actually, it makes businesses thrive.

The stigma that comes with ‘graffiti art’ is because they hear the word ‘graffiti’ and don’t hear the word ‘art.’

“That word has a negative connotation because ‘graffiti’ is illegal, right? There are tons of graffiti-style stuff but those are productions. And there are a lot of illegal graffiti artists out there that do that too because they will evolve to that.

“I’m not a saint but I’m not a full-blown vandal. I like the funky or the prettier stuff. But the stigma that comes with ‘graffiti art’ is because they hear the word ‘graffiti’ and don’t hear the word ‘art.’ That’s the struggle to get the older generation to realize that if we introduce this to Long Island, your property value is not going to decline.

“People are commissioning me to paint more of my style and I don’t have to bend so much. I do it because I got to make a living and I love what I do. It’s the only thing I can do. I’m going to be painting for the rest of my life, but the goal is to eventually have full creative control.

“I feel like I’ve been on the cusp for the last couple of years. COVID surely threw a wrench into things. I’ve lost some people relatively close to me. That was difficult to deal with, but we stayed positive.”

‘My passion for ‘Harry Potter’ has helped me see the magic in everyday life. It has also allowed me to share that magic with my students, who now get to go on the same adventures.’

Baldwin

“I instantly connected with the ‘Harry Potter’ series because I loved the fantasy aspect of it. When I was 9, I picked up the first book and couldn’t put it down. It’s adventurous, plus I identified with Hermione. It escalated into something more when I was in high school. I would plan midnight showing parties of the films with my friends. I started listening to a Harry Potter podcast and would frequent Mugglenet.com. I found people online who would want to talk about the series, so we would chat on Skype.

“I started listening to cool Wizard Rock groups like Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys. I went to Terminus, my first Harry Potter convention, in 2008 in Chicago. (I brought my dad with me because I wasn’t old enough to be at the hotel by myself!) I also went to LeakyCon in Boston and the NYC Wizard Rock Festival in Brooklyn, which is exactly as dorky as you would imagine. A big theme throughout the books is the power of love and friendship, along with trying your best and not doubting your own abilities.

A big theme throughout the books is the power of love and friendship, along with trying your best and not doubting your own abilities. As an educator, I realize that those are values that can easily be transferred to the classroom.

“As an educator, I realize that those are values that can easily be transferred to the classroom. I love being able to introduce students to ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ because it obviously made an impact on my life. I have used Harry Potter as a behavior management system in my English classes. I have the four house flags and divide the students into houses. Participation and critical thinking allows them to earn points, while disruptions deduct points. Students encourage each other to behave and participate. I dress up and bring props like a Mirror of Erised and a mechanical sorting hat. I put students on a stool and they wear the hat to get sorted.

“When McGonagall gives her big speech, I wear a robe and practice my Scottish accent. I even have a small Harry Potter lightning bolt tattoo because it has had significant meaning to me for the past 20 years. My passion for ‘Harry Potter’ has helped me see the magic in everyday life. It has helped me make connections with people around the U.S. and find common ground with them. It has also allowed me to share that magic with my students, who now get to go on the same adventures.”