Walking around at the high school, you are sure to see many new faces. Although, new faces are not only found among peers: many new teachers have joined the Minnetonka community this year. Get familiar with some of these new teachers with the interviews below.

Tanner Holte

What is your name? What subject do you teach? How many years have you been teaching and where?

My name is Tanner Holte. I teach Intro to Python, Video Game Design, AP Computer Science A, and AP Computer Science Principles. I have been teaching for six days now.

What or who inspired you to teach?

 I mean I had a lot of great teachers as a student…When I was studying computer science in college, I liked computer science but I didn’t really like the job environment it was going to put me into, so I found myself teaching people how to play video games in my free time. I decided if I was going out of my way to teach people […], I might as well try to teach people computer science.

What are your favorite topics to teach and why?

There are a lot of topics that I have never taught before that I’ll see this year, but in general I really like Java as a language, it’s super cool. I don’t know if I can pin down a single topic because I haven’t taught most of it before. What we’re doing in video game design is really fun right now. We are critiquing games, we are looking for the developer’s intent. What do they want the player to feel? That’s a lot of what we are talking about.

Give a fun fact about yourself.

In college, I did the most computer science thing ever. I competed in collegiate esports, so I was on varsity level teams, representing the university, sometimes traveling around to compete. At the varsity level, I played Counter Strike, a long time ago, and Apex Legends, more recently.

Give a fun fact not about yourself.

So computers as we know them, they work on a binary system, [although] people have actually made ternary computers. Instead of zeroes and ones, [they work on] zeroes, ones and twos. They exist, but they are not great at what you want computers to do, so they never really took off.

What is your favorite piece of media right now?

I listen to a lot of music, it’s hard to keep track of albums. In terms of tv shows, I don’t watch too much. The ones I see really stand out, but I haven’t seen anything new in about six months. I would say the album that I’m listening to right now is called Twin Fantasy by Car Seat Headrest. I really like that one.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I guess I’m relatively satisfied with my lack of contact with the dead because none are really coming to mind. So I guess my brother. He lives in Montana, [so] I only see him once or twice a year.

What cookie would you be and why?

Snickerdoodle, but I don’t know why.

Lydia Wissink

What is your name? What subject do you teach? How many years have you been teaching and where?

I am Mrs. Wissink. I teach math, specifically this year I am teaching Higher Algebra and Precalculus. This is my tenth year teaching, and twelfth year in education. I have spent the past eight years at Delano High School, and I taught the two years before that in Coloma, Michigan. I also have some time teaching in Sydney, Australia and Liverpool, England as well when I was in college.

What or who inspired you to teach?

I am a Minnetonka grad, and some people will still know Ms. Hersmann, who just [retired]. Ms. Hersmann was my math teacher junior and senior year, and she was the one to become a teacher and more specifically a math teacher.

What are your favorite topics to teach and why?

I like algebra. I like trigonometry. This is my second time teaching [calculus] but I’m enjoying it as well, since I’m really getting to dive deeper into that.

Give a fun fact about yourself.

I’ve taught in three countries. I’ve taught in Sydney, Australia, Liverpool, England, and here in two [different] states–in Minnesota and Michigan. I also have a degree in Psychology.

Give a fun fact not about yourself.

It is possible for a blind person to see using their tongue. There is a machine that you put on your tongue that sees the world for you and displays the image from your tongue, and blind people can actually see that way. This was found out by psychologist Norman Doidge. He found out that brains could change. Like there is a vision part of your brain called the occipital lobe. [People who use this machine] have their occipital lobe light up, meaning they can actually see. I watched this video one time where someone was able to follow an arrow down a path and shot a basket and made it by using his tongue [to see].

What is your favorite piece of media right now?

I really like the This American Life podcast. I also really like the show, Alex vs America, which is a cooking show with Alex Guarnaschelli. Or Beat Bobby Flay, I’m also a big fan of that one. My husband is also obsessed with The Big Bang Theory, so that is always playing in our house.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

This may be sappy, but [I would say] my daughter. She is four and a half, and she is super fun. Especially, right now, in September, I don’t get to see her very much compared to summer when we are together all the time.

What cookie would you be and why?

There’s this cookie place in Ridgedale Mall called T-Rex Cookies, and they have cookies the size of your face. They have a salted caramel chocolate chip cookie. You know, it’s a little sweet, a little salty, a little delicious, a little gooey–it’s just delicious.