Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Heather Baver with me. Welcome.
Heather Baver: Thank you, Toni. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Toni: Well, thank you. Heather, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Heather: Currently, I’m a freelance writer for Berks County Living magazine. In my personal life, I’m a mother to two children. I have a daughter who’s 6-1/2, and I have a son who’s 2-1/2.
Toni: So, you’re a busy lady.
Heather: Yeah. I’m enjoying it.
Toni: Good for you. Should we jump into the Project?
Heather: Let’s do it.
Toni: Alright. So, what does inspiration mean to you?
Heather: To me, inspiration is also wrapped up in curiosity. I think inspiration is the first step into something. It’s the catalyst. It’s what leads to everything else beyond it. You get inspired, and then you just want to jump in, and you want to tackle that project, build that item, make something, write something. That’s what inspiration is to me.
Toni: I like the fact that you’re lynching it on curiosity. Not many people have said that. Is it a physical feeling when you’re curious that inspires you to do something? Are you curious 100 times a day? How does it happen for you?
Heather: I mean, I think to me, curiosity ties up in with learning something. I love learning things. To me, learning and curiosity go hand in hand. If I’m given a project, then a lot of times, there’s so many things in the world that we don’t know, and I think it’s really neat that every time I’m given a writing assignment, for instance, I get to talk to people. I get to use the web. I get to scour the world for information to answer the questions that I have.
Toni: So, you are inspired by your learning, and then also solving the puzzle.
Heather: Right.
Toni: Okay. That’s pretty cool.
Heather: Finding out the information.
Toni: Right, right. So, how do you put that into practice here in Berks County?
Heather: Well, I work on a lot of different assignments for Berks County Living magazine. One of the things I’ve been doing from the start is called the Five Things feature. Every month there’s a different theme. We write about five different things. It’s just so cool, because one month I might be learning about different coffee creations; another month, I’m talking to people who sell apparel for dogs and how to dress your dog. Most recently, I’ve been working on a piece that has to do with local artists and craftspeople. It’s just really neat to find out all this different information, and what people in Berks County are doing, what they’re involved with, and what inspires them, too.
Toni: That is a puzzle you’re putting together, isn't it?
Heather: It is, yeah.
Toni: That is a really cool feature. It really is.
Heather: It is. Thank you.
Toni: So, who in Berks County inspires you?
Heather: The people that really inspire me in Berks County are all the teachers out there, because they play such a huge role in the lives of all their students. I look back to my own school days, and I think about all the different things; the projects we had to do. It really impresses me how teachers can really unleash the potential in their students. You may not know what you’re capable of, but somehow, they have that seasoned eye that they’re able to figure it out and say, “Yes, you can do this, and I’m going to help you get there.”
I have so many great memories of my own school days, and now my daughter is just starting first grade. Last year I got to watch her really grow and see what a pivotal role her teachers played in her life. It’s such a tough job sometimes, and I just want to give a shout out to all the teachers out there, because they do a really great job. Even years and years later — it’s been a while since I’ve been in school, and I still have so many great memories of the things they taught us.
Toni: Have you ever considered being a teacher yourself?
Heather: I thought about it, but then life took me on different paths. I think one of the great things to being a parent is that you can provide enrichment activities for your kids. We just had summer vacation. We went to the library a lot. Even though I may not be a teacher in the classroom sense, I get to be my children’s guide through life, and I get to introduce them to learning opportunities; books that I love. I’m interested in history. I get to introduce them to those things.
Toni: Any particular shout out of who inspires you that you would like to, or just teachers as a whole?
Heather: I think just the teachers I had as a whole. Everybody in my high school, and all the way on down.
Toni: It’s a great industry to be inspired by with all that they do, and how the world has changed so much for them right now.
Heather: That’s true.
Toni: What would you like your legacy to be?
Heather: Well, I actually listened to some of the other interviews, and I know you talked about living your legacy every day. That made a lot of sense to me. It’s an ongoing thing. I really want my legacy to be that for my children, that they stay curious. That they keep asking questions and keep learning, even after their formal education days are done, because formal education is a small segment of everybody’s life. There’re so many places to learn and grow and stay curious, and just to keep asking questions.
I also think too that everybody is…not only we’re all role models, but we’re always looking to the people around us to inspire us and show us the ropes of life. Simultaneously, you are a role model, but you are looking to somebody else to be your role model, your mentor. I think it’s just important that we keep asking questions and being our best selves.
Toni: Well, the curiosity piece of this as far as what inspires you, the learning, staying curious, keeping your options open, has followed you through this entire interview. Whether it’s how you define inspiration, how you put it into practice, who inspires you as a group — this is what they do for a living — and then what you’re giving to your children as far as that mindset and that opportunity. That’s amazing. Thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Heather: Thank you for having me. It’s been a real pleasure.
