Ms. Amy Heckel

Hi Verona parents and students!  My name is Amy Heckel, and I am so excited to be your science and anthropology teacher this year! This school year will be my twenty-third year teaching, and twenty-first year teaching at HB Whitehorne!  Having grown up in Wisconsin, I am so thankful for the relationships I've built with my students, their families, and my colleagues over the years, and I look forward to getting to know you all this year as well!  Feel free to reach out at any time, I'm happy to answer your questions or just chat!

I currently live in Verona with my silly and super smart Abyssinian cat, Ruby, so please say hi if you see me around town!  As I mentioned, I grew up in a town in Wisconsin that is very similar to Verona.  I do own two cheese head hats, and am a huge Green Bay Packers fan.  In fact, I'm a Packers team owner...yes, you heard me correctly, your eighth grade science teacher is also an NFL team owner! I attended college at the University of Notre Dame, where I received my BA in Anthropology.  I moved to New Jersey after college to attend Seton Hall University, where I received my Master of Education degree.  I also have a certificate in eLearning and Online Instruction from the University of California - San Diego.  I have a passion for bringing science to life for my students and helping them to see that science is really all around us!  Anthropology is a second passion of mine, and I hope to help my students gain a better understanding and appreciation for other cultures through this elective course.  I was honored to have been selected the VFEE Inspiring Excellence award winner for HBW in 2019.

I love to challenge myself to learn new skills/hobbies, try new food, and travel to new places!  I have traveled to six continents, most recently to Europe (Spain, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy) and Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Botswana) in 2022, South America (Ecuador) and Europe/Asia (Turkiye) in 2023.  In addition to my personal travel, I have enjoyed taking my former students, when they are/were in high school, to Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand, all over Europe, and Ecuador, including the Galapagos Islands.  In 2024, I will be taking Verona students to Europe on a custom tour of the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, and in 2025 I will be taking students to Japan! (Where do you dream of traveling to?  Let me know - I'll see what I can do to make it happen!) I hope that through travel, my students will gain a better appreciation of other cultures and also learn more about themselves and grow as individuals. When I was in high school, I was an exchange student in Germany, and I hope to provide my former students with a similar, life changing experience!

In addition to travel, I enjoy knitting and crocheting, baking, reading, shopping, playing soccer, yoga, playing fantasy football, riding my Peloton, and cheering on the Packers and Notre Dame! I used to volunteer with the high school youth group at Our Lady of the Lakes in Verona. I am the 8C team coordinator, soccer adviser, and science club adviser.  For fifteen years, I was the yearbook adviser at HBW, and loved creating award-winning yearbooks for our students to enjoy. On school breaks, I love to visit my nephew and nieces in Minnesota as well as my family and friends around the country.  My travel dream is to visit Antarctica.  In addition to travel, I love chocolate, coffee (especially Starbucks!), ice cream, anything pumpkin or fall-themed, Harry Potter (I'm a Ravenclaw!), Taylor Swift, and wearing Rothy's, shoes made from recycled water bottles!