Well, welcome
to the next edition of Teachers Who Shaped Us.
We are thrilled today to have Olympian swimmer
from right here in Indiana, Lilly King.
Lilly, I tell you, we are so proud of you here in Indiana
and all that you have accomplished
as an Olympian, as a medal winner...
just the way you represent our state, our country.
We're so proud of you.
And so thank you for joining us to celebrate
some of your teachers and elevate the teacher profession.
Tell me, was...
who as you think about your path as an Olympian,
who are some of the teachers who've impacted you the most?
Or coaches.
Yeah.
Well, thank you for having me, first of all.
But my...
my entire life has been spent around teachers.
Both my parents are teachers, on my mother's side,
I am fourth generation teacher.
All of my coaches have been teachers.
So it's kind of...
I can't pinpoint it to one person.
It has been such a such a group effort
but I can genuinely say everyone who has been around me
to influence me throughout my life and my career has been a teacher.
Wow. So tell me, really quick.
Your parents were teachers.
So what did your parents teach?
So my mom has been teaching at Helfrich Park
Middle School since I want to say 1995.
Wow. Mrs. King.
Yeah. So she's been teaching
tech, like technology, education, for longer
than I've been alive, which is pretty cool, at the same school.
My dad teaches business at Earley College High School, also in Evansville.
And he's been doing that and coaching as well for the past few years.
Very good.
So what does your dad coach then?
He coach, actually coaches track and cross-country.
Okay. Yeah. So not my path but...
Not, not, not your swimming path.
Did you ever play any other sports other than swimming?
I did.
I didn't fully commit to swimming until my freshman year of high school,
and that was solely because I was trying to qualify for Olympic trials.
So, yeah, I played baseball.
I did gymnastics and volleyball.
I did run track and cross-country.
Unfortunately, the
genes didn't carry over for me, but that's okay.
They carried in other ways, right?
Yeah., yeah. Swimming was kind of like the...
not the first thing I did, but it was like my first love, I would say.
Yeah. Absolutely.
So you talked about your parents
and you're a fourth generation educator.
Are...
are there any other people, teachers or coaches who really...
you can peg and say, gosh, they really impacted my life and my path?
Yeah, probably the biggest one I can think of, my...
my age group swim coach, Mike Chapman.
He is currently teaching special education at Boonville Middle School
or Boonville High School. I can't remember. I'm sorry, Mike.
But if Mike is watching.
If Mike is watching, I'm sorry.
I saw him last week and he'll be fine with it.
But yeah, I mean, it was...
it's you can never, you know, never undervalue what you know,
your club coach, or age group coach can do for you because he was kind of
the one that brought me through the ranks, you know, from ages ten to 15 or 16.
And it made me the, you know, the swimmer and the person I am today.
So definitely Mike, for sure.
I had a lot of really fantastic teachers.
Well, name them because they're probably still, still teaching.
Who... who else would you say?
Frau Adams, my German teacher at Reitz High School.
She knows I love her to death.
I took her her German classes all four years of high school,
and she was just a wonderful support for me
and my brother as well, when he came along a year later.
So...
Frau for sure.
It's like there's so many I can think of Frau immediately.
It keeps going, doesn't it? It's like dot, dot, dot.
I mean, I can't imagine how proud they are.
You know, as teachers, we we do this for our kids and our students.
And so I'm sure you are a shining star in their eyes for sure.
So you also, you're at Indiana University.
While you were competing in the Olympics,
you were also studying to be a teacher.
And I have heard that you even
have your student teaching, you finished your degree.
Tell me about why you decided to go that path to become a teacher.
Yeah, it was...
it was one thing when I started school, I originally intended on
going into a coaching type field.
So I really wanted to be a swim coach or a college coach or something like that.
So, you know, talking with my advisors, like we can go this path, this path
or this path
and it just happened to line up perfectly with, with physical education.
So I said, "Well, sure, like, let's, let's go for that.
That'd be pretty helpful, I think." Yup.
It ended up getting into it and then deciding
I didn't really want to get into coaching and really fell in love
with the field and, and, you know, with being a P.E.
teacher and all the craziness that comes with it.
All the P.E.
teachers in the state
right now are probably like pumping their arms in the air.
They love this.
What did you fall in love with?
What, what part did you love about the physical education teaching?
It's just fun.
It really, to me was just so much fun.
I love to joke that I don't like to socialize with adults.
I only like to be around kids
so that was, it was just a very logical choice for me.
And I get to go to school and play games every day.
Like, you know what life I get to live, so, it was...
it was such a logical choice.
And it was also something I never doubted because I was always having so much fun
doing it. Love that.
Well, I...
I'm sure, I know that you're professionally swimming right now,
but I'm sure every, like, principal and superintendent around
the state is thinking, how can I get her, Lilly King to be a P.E.
teacher in my school someday? But...
I'm sure you'll have a lot of people knocking at your door.
And...
we're just again, we're so thankful that you joined us today
to celebrate the teaching profession,
to elevate the work of our educators, which is incredible.
And so the final question I have is,
you have a chance to say anything you want to all the educators
across Indiana, is there anything you'd like to say?
Yeah, just keep kicking butt.
I know, I know firsthand that this pandemic has been crazy
and so unbelievably straining on the teachers but you guys are rockstars
and keep kicking butt because those kids need you.
And I know they know that and we all know that but just, just keep on going.
We're going to get there, eventually.
Yes, we are going to get there.
And you're right.
Our, our educators, our teachers, they are rockstars and Lilly,
you are a rockstar as well.
We're so proud of you in Indiana
and as proud of you as Americans.
So keep on representing.
And when you're ready to join us as educators,
we're ready to welcome you with open arms, so thank you.
I'll be there. All right.
Thank you so much, Lilly.
Have a great afternoon. Thanks. Thanks.