March 31st, 2022 - Fifth Graders Interview Kaiana Haven!

March 31st, 2022

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The Interview Squad Strikes Again!

What is the Interview Squad?

The Interview Squad is a group of 5th graders who have volunteered to interview staff, in an effort to help families get to know them a little better.
All 5th graders participated in shaping the questions to be asked.
Students from each 5th grade classroom volunteered to conduct the interviews.
These interviews, written up by the students, are being published in a series of Special Edition Newsletters over this school year.
Three 5th graders conducted this interview.

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Interview #5 : Ms. Kaiana Haven

French philosopher and writer Marcel Proust was known for his witty answers to a series of intriguing questions, now known as the Proust Questionnaire. To learn more about our teachers in a unique way, the TC 5^th graders took on the challenge of creating their own set of interview questions.

For this issue we had the honor of interviewing one of our new 5th grade teachers: Kai Haven

Background

Kai Haven is a long-term 5th grade sub. She grew up in Seattle with her mom and dad. Watermelon, is Kai’s favorite food and in fact watermelon is red, and right next to red in the rainbow, is orange… and orange is Kai’s favorite color! Mary Poppins is Kai’s favorite movie, and her favorite book is Out of My Mind, by Sharon M. Draper. But instead of sitting on the couch watching movies, or reading, Kai also needs to be active! And to do that she likes to swim and play soccer. Kai’s college major was Psychology, so you might think that if she wasn’t a teacher, she would be a psychologist. But that’s not what Kai would like to be. She would like to be an event planner, or an EMT. Her favorite hobby is Rock Climbing, and Bouldering, but surprise, surprise… Kai can ride a unicycle! Her favorite numbers are 3 and 5, and maybe lucky numbers! Turtles, sea turtles are the animal Kai loves most. But, most of all, Kai wants to go to… Switzerland!

Thank you for being at Thornton Creek, Kai!

Interview Questions

If you could live as an animal, what would it be and why?

I was thinking a dolphin, because I think it would be really fun to swim around and explore. And dolphins are really playful animals, so they are always using echo location and talking with other dolphins, playing in the waves with a boat, or with how the tides are moving.

If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be and why?

This is a good question. First, I went really big and thought maybe I’d want to meet Obama, or then even a singer or a comedian. But I decided on a lady, her name in Brene Brown, and I listen to her podcast a lot. She is a researcher and also a professor. She has a lot of different studies related to psychology, and her interviews are really cool because they ask really direct questions. They really pry into what people are thinking so they have to be really vulnerable and honest. It’s helps me understand what other people are doing and thinking – people that I would never be able to talk to in this world – and know what their meaning of life is.

If you could have one super-power, what would it be and why?

OK. Have you seen Mary Poppins? You know how she has that bag, and she can just pull things out of it? I want that, but in my pockets. So, if we were in the middle of class and someone’s like, “I’m feeling like I want a snack,” and I could be like, “OK, what do you want?” and I could just pull it out of my pocket. Or if I’m on a hike or something and it starts to rain, but I didn’t bring my rain jacket, I could just pull a rain jacket out of my pocket. So any scenario, I would always be prepared. That is what I am thinking.

If you could choose another job besides teaching, what would it be and why?

This one I have two answers. The first on is that I always thought it would be super fun to be an event planner. So planning a really elaborate birthday party, or someone’s wedding, or some sort of celebration and you’d be able to spend the other person’s money. And you could pick out all the table decorations and things like that. Or planning someone’s wedding you’d get to plan where the pictures would be taken. Everything under the sun. But the other one is like the complete opposite. I would really want to be an EMT, when an ambulance show up – an Emergency Medical Technician. They are there to make sure a person is going to survive and transport them to the hospital. But instead of doing it in the “front country” where you can get to the hospital really fast, I would want to do it in the “back country” so I would be hiking in or I would be in a rural spot where I would need to have everything on me or the knowledge to make sure this person would be able to survive taking the time to get to a hospital, which could be 30 minutes, hours or even days.

What is the best thing you ever learned from a student?

This is my first year of teaching, so I am new to teaching, and haven’t been with that many students or classes. But what I am thinking about is that I am always so impressed by how smart everyone is. No matter the age there is always something that each person knows so much about in detail that I would never know that much about. That has been the coolest part – being able to hear what everyone is interested in. Everyone seems to be interested in some sort of niche little thing that I’ve learned a lot about. So I’ve learned to listen more.

Respectfully submitted,

Thornton Creek Interview Squad

-Delia M.

-Helena S.

-Lily L.F.

The newsletter team would like to offer thanks to Kai Haven for taking the time to be interviewed, and to the 5th graders who worked together to come up with such excellent interview questions, and who produced this lovely interview!

Additional thanks go to Bridget DuRuz who organized this whole operation as the "Interview Squad Faculty Adviser". Sharing these interviews gives us a much anticipated peek at some of what is happening at TC!