We decided to interview Ms. Brooks, a new biology teacher at BASIS this year, about her school experiences, most interesting research, favorite hobbies, and various other opinions. Some responses have been edited for clarity/context.
Carolyn: What classes do you teach?
Ms. Landin: I teach Biology for all of seventh grade and then two sections of sixth grade.
C: What’s your favorite subtopic within Biology?
L: I’m really interested in different aspects of biomed research, that’s what I was doing before I came here. I really like cancer research; that’s my favorite subject.
C: Do you have any pets?
L: I do, I have a chihuahua. I bought him off Craigslist seven years ago. His name is Mojo, but we call him Doodle. You know how you start off calling your dog one thing and then a few years later, you end up calling him something completely different? That’s what happened to us.
C: How do you feel about teaching at BASIS so far?
L: I like it. I think that it’s really fun to help mold a new generation of scholars, I mean, that’s what you guys are. It’s very exciting.
C: Favorite hobby?
L: I’m really into physical fitness, so I like to hike, go to the gym, do yoga, things like that. If it’s not hot, I’ll do pretty much anything outdoors.
C: What’s something you thought was true as a child but actually isn’t?
L: That’s hard. I guess… I guess I thought that it was going to be easy being a grown-up. I thought it was going to be the greatest, and now I just want to be a kid again.
C: What did you study in college, and what were your favorite and least favorite classes?
L: I do a lot of cellular biology, so my favorite class was an in-depth genomics class. My least favorite class was a probability class; I really like math, but I don’t like applied math. Physics and statistics were horrible for me. They tried to teach me computer programming in stats, and I was like, “No, don’t do this to me! I’m not that kind of millennial!”
C: Any advice for this year’s BASIS students?
L: Stay organized! It’s hard when you’re virtual because you’re kind of at home chillin’, but stay as organized as possible and really take advantage of your teachers. We’re here for you guys! And not just for academic questions; we’re here to support you! Even if you need a motivational quote or something, I will find one for you guys.
C: Do you like bugs?
L: No.
C: Which is worse, hot or cold weather?
L: I’m gonna say cold weather because I can handle the summer. If I’m too cold, I don’t like that. I just like a good sixty five, seventy degrees. Nothing too crazy.
C: Favorite outdoor activity?
L: Probably hiking.
C: What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t a teacher?
L: Oh, research for sure. That’s what I was doing before I came to BASIS. I was thinking about doing clinical research more than just the basic research and development. So I guess if I wasn’t a teacher, I’d be doing clinical research specifically.
C: What’s the coolest thing you’ve worked on?
L: Before I came here, I was actually isolating mitochondria from cells and determining how long they were able to function and also mitochondrial transfer between cells. I was making viruses and working on stem cells, so that was really cool.
C: Favorite Halloween movie?
L: I used to love scary movies and now I don’t, so I’ll probably say Hocus Pocus.
C: Cowboys or robots?
L: Cowboys.
C: Favorite band?
L: This is going to sound really alternative of me, but lately I’ve really liked Rise Against.
C: If you had a time machine, which time period would you travel to?
L: I’d probably choose the seventies. It was such a good time. There wasn’t all this technology, and kids played outside. I don’t know what specific historical event I’d travel to, but just anywhere in the seventies. I feel like I was born in the wrong era, you know?
C: What animal would be the most terrifying if it could speak?
L: I would say probably a gorilla or an orangutan because they’re smart and if they were yelling at us, that’d be scary. We’d be in trouble.
