Gwen Walz uses her ‘teacher voice’ in call for educators to mobilize for Harris

by Anna Liz Nichols, Michigan Advance
 

It’s back to school season and former teacher Gwen Walz can smell the sharpened pencils and fresh paper from the campaign trail.

Walz reminisced Wednesday with educators in Grand Rapids about her time as a high school English teacher in Nebraska, sharing an old choir room that had been split with a divider with a social studies teacher whose booming voice would spill over into her side of the room.

That’s how she met her husband, Tim Walz, who would go on to serve in the U.S. House and as Minnesota governor. He’s now Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Walz remembers the laughter from both sides of the room well.

“Nothing beats that moment when that classroom is filled with our learners for the new year,” Walz told the room of teachers and lawmakers. “There’s unlimited possibilities in the air, possibilities of what is to be at yet another brand new school year and that’s sort of how this election feels to me, too. Right now, it feels like unlimited possibilities, like the beginning of something, like there are clean chalkboards and white boards out there and notebooks without the covers torn off. … We are feeling the joy and the hope, and we are ready for that fresh start.”