By: Loriann Legare
If you were to think of a biology teacher that cares about our generation, loves Princess Diana, and loves to read, you would have Ms. Van Riel.
Helen Van Riel knew she wanted to be a teacher at age 16 when she participated in a summer program at her camp. She didn’t know that she would teach Biology, or that she would be teaching high school, but she knew she wanted to help, and teach people.
“I knew I wanted to teach, I didn’t know what grade level, I didn’t know what I wanted to teach, when I actually filled out the common app I had English down as my degree and then I changed it because I thought to myself, well what would I want, what would never get old like what could I teach for 35, 40 years and it’s gonna be different from year one to year 40 and there’s always gonna be new, ya know, I thought of all these studies that I would need to keep up with and that it would always be changing. So I think that’s what really drew me to Biology.”
While sitting in a tiger onesie, Van Riel told about how passionate she is about her students. She truly thinks that the individuals that she has taught, don’t reflect what society thinks about their generation.
“I am passionate about my students because I think that this generation gets a really bad rap but the individuals that I’ve had the opportunities to teach are, do not kind of embody what society thinks that you do. And so I want to advocate for you and kind of give you the tools you need to be successful and kind of break down those preconceptions people have about your generation.”
She talked about how everyone goes through those awkward middle school years and how literature help her escape. She likes to read fiction and fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. When asked if she could meet three people, alive or dead, she responded with, Princess Diana, JRR Tolkien, and Robin Williams.
“Uh, definitely Princes Diana would be on that list. I would also like to meet JRR Tolkien, um, the author of The Lord of the Rings, and Lord of the Rings really helped, like basically take all of the awkward middle school years that everyone goes through, Tolkien saved me from all that basically and I just think like back to, and I used to read them every year and I would just love to meet him and say thank you. And, uh, the third person, I’ve been thinking about this recently, I would love to meet Robin Williams and say thanks to him too, cuz I think that he’s such a big part of everyone’s life and I hope that he knows that’s a really good thing.”
Whilst fiddling with a small piece of paper, Van Riel talked about her younger years and her love for Princess Diana. Even with all the scandals and conspiracies she thought Princess Diana did wonderful things for her people and genuinely cared and Van Riel aspired to be like that.
“Growing up I loved reading and learning about Princess Diana and I know she has lots of scandals and there’s lots of conspiracy theories and all that stuff going on but I just always remember seeing like the wonderful things that she did for other people and I always remember thinking like, oh I wanna be like her, and ya know giving back to other people. When she, ya know, most people in her position don’t necessarily have the time to do that cuz they have so much going on and she seemed like when she did go and do things for other people she really meant it, it wasn’t like something she had to be doing, she really wanted to do it.”
Van Riel emulates Princess Diana’s genuine caring for others in her everyday life with her students, co-workers, friends, and family and rarely gets mad due to her naturally positive outlook. But even though Ms.Van Riel is a fantastic teacher and caring person, things don’t always come easily. She used to have to work hard in school, no matter the subject and was always questioning things.
“Ya know, that’s a good question. Um, I generally have a really positive demeanor, I think that comes easily. Like I think it takes a lot of effort for me to be upset or be angry which is why when I am upset or angry like people should be scared cuz it doesn’t happen very often, but, you know I think that’s really it, I think everything else, even when I was in school, like I had to work really hard, and it didn’t matter what subject, even science included, because I’m the kind of person that, like if I’m asked a question, you know and there’s a right answer, I need to know why all the other answers are wrong, like I need to think everything out, so um, I’m willing to put in that work but that’s more difficult.”
When asked what motivates her, due to Van Riel’s positive outlook and need to work hard and question everything she said helping people. She makes sure that her positivity and happiness rubs off on others, and that makes her happy.
“I am motivated by being able to help other people, one of the things that makes me the happiest is knowing that other people are happy, so I think everything that I try to do is to help others.”