No matter how much time passes, some teachers stick with you. Whether because of an engaging classroom, warm personality, or friendly disposition, these teachers plant seeds of curiosity, creativity, and integrity in their students that flourish into extensive gardens of knowledge and ingenuity. Mrs. Luckie, 5th and 6th grade English teacher at Keystone, is one of these teachers for me. Whether because of her unique teaching style that weaves brain science into non-fiction tales or her meticulously decorated room, Mrs. Luckie is a paragon of the educator. After 24 years of dedication to teaching English at Keystone, Mrs. Luckie has decided to move forward to a new chapter in life. In this multiple-part series, we interview the teachers at the core of Keystone’s close-knit community. 

Part I: Personal Questions

Could you give an introduction of yourself?

I am Regina Luckie and I am the fifth and sixth grade teacher for the last 24 years at Keystone, and it has defined so much of my life in just a beautiful and magical way.

What did your life look like growing up or do you have any favorite childhood memories?

I was really lucky; I was one of four, and all of the children were born within three years in 10 months. So there were a lot of sibling–you know, energy and I was the youngest, so I learned how to be resilient. But I also grew up in an area where there was a lot of outdoor playing and we walked to school, rode our bikes to school. And so, you know, we always liked the say in my family that was almost like we grew up in this utopia kind of existence because I had a very blessed childhood, and I got to do pretty much anything I wanted to do. If I wanted to do ballet, I would get to do ballet. If I wanted to take singing lessons, I would get to do that. So I had a great childhood. 

Did any of that, I guess, influence your career as an English high school or English middle school teacher?– 

You know, the only thing that really did is ballet. Because to me, it’s like any other discipline, and I think once you get to fifth grade, it’s the same way. You come in and you have got to go through the bar and you’ve got to do these sort of drills and it feels like you do the same drills, and sometimes they really hurt and your muscles ache and things like that. And that’s before you can go center floor and start to learn some combinations and then eventually get to perform a ballet. So I think I learn that that’s kind of what teaching is and what learning is for people. It’s a certain balance of drills, center floor, and then getting to perform. And you learn how to push through the pain. You know, push through the discomfort because you know it’s building something. 

Oh, that’s an interesting way to see it. Do you have any favorite hobbies now? 

I work out. I’m super excited. Tai Chi and Qi Gong. I’m hopeful that that will become one of my new hobbies and then I will also volunteer at the Animal Defense League.

What would your perfect day look like? 

Perfect day? I mean, I don’t think it’s anything that anybody else wouldn’t want. I want to spend it with people who I enjoy and love having good conversations with and maybe get to see something new together. 

Do you have any cats or animals? 

My cats all lived very long lives and they all died within the same time as each other about three years ago. And my husband and I made the decision that a cat for us is a family member, and you must be ready to do what you can with that family member your entire life. So we’re not taking on any new family members. You would be helpful that, you know, the people around you would treat you like you’ve treated your pet. 

That’s a very sweet way to look at it. 

Have you had any major events in your life that have shaped the way that you’ve approached life?

Yeah, you worded the question in the list you gave me as “any hardships I had encountered,” and I stopped and I really, really thought about this one. Any hardships I’ve had have really been having to watch people I love go through hardships. Whether it’s my husband’s brain cancer or my son having to, you know, continue his life living with autism. That’s the hardship for me, but then on the flip side of it is the beauty of and the blessing of getting to see them (emphasis). What do they do? How do they get past it? I’m not the one physically having to endure cancer. He went through cancer again this year. I’m not the one day to day having to figure out how to negotiate the world with autism. And I get to see these two wonderful brave men. And so my hardships for me, have been learning experiences. 

Has there been anything that has come from that–that has led you to a revelation or something like that?

Yes. It’s all about the voice you let dominate in your brain. You need to think about your brain like it’s a courtroom, and you always have the prosecuting attorney wanting to tell you “It’s a hardship. It’s terrible. It’s terrible.” You need to let your defense attorney come in there and go: but look at it this way. So I try to, you know–it’s kind of cliché–I try to stay on the sunny side, or so to speak, but I try to reframe it–let the words in my head frame it to be something positive. 

That’s actually something my dad always tells me. 

It is a real fact, you know. What you tell yourself will be. 

If you wrote an autobiography about something in your life, what is something that you’d definitely include, just like some event in your life that really stood out to you?

Getting this job at Keystone. Yeah. I had been teaching before in Albuquerque for about eight years and then we joined the military and we moved around too much, and then I came here and I got this job and it was– I said it– I told you it before– it laid the groundwork for my professional life. And what a beautiful ground. Really? Really? (emphasis) I mean, it’s every teacher’s dream. That’s what I always used to say, you know, when I got to Keystone, I dug in my claws and they were not going to take me away. You know, I was not–I early on recognized what had been given to me. So yeah, Keystone was really–would have to be a big chapter. Because look at all of the people I met. Look at all the kids who influenced me.

It’s a really great community. 

Part II: Teaching Questions

What was your favorite memory from teaching at Keystone? 

You know, we would sit around, especially Miss Rardon and me, we’d talk, we’d laugh about some of the funnier memories that we remember. But overall, my favorite memory is something we don’t do anymore because of COVID. And then after COVID they changed up our schedule so we couldn’t do it. I really loved Fantasy Island. And I loved Fantasy Island, not because at the time some kids would be like, oh, fantasy Island. But because it was such a wonderful opportunity to sort of explore all at once, everything you had learned. You had to build your map and it was so creative and fun and we got dances out of it and skits and we got, you know, you know, Pokémon Island, but whatever it was, it was just always so creative and fun, you know, so. 

Was it the roller coaster project? 

Yes, yeah, I mean, that was Dr. Wivagg who brought that in, and that was fun too. So, you know, we’re like the kids, we like to remember the projects. I, with the help obviously of Mrs. Rardon, developed it, and it grew and grew and grew. Fantasy Island went from being a trifold board to what it ended up being. And that was just fun to develop that with the help of the kids. 

If you could teach any other language, what would it be? 

Any other language? Sign language.

Really? 

Yeah. I think that was–it would be interesting to learn how to communicate outside the spoken world. Are they accessing things that we will never get to understand? Because that’s what I would think. 

The next thing I want to talk to you about was one of the things that you taught our grade, which was about the different parts of the brain and Phineas Gage’s story. I think that really stuck with me because it was like it was an English class. We were also learning about, like, our brains. How did you, I guess, develop this teaching style, where you combined, like, not only literary works, but like, other things?

I think it’s a selfish learning style. I like to learn. I like to see words used in different ways and I think nonfiction is one way. I think books and verses another way. I think graphic novels is another way. And I get excited about it. And so I want to share that. But I also like the fact that I think at this at that age, fifth and sixth grade, like I said, told you before, it’s really important that they know there’s all different kinds of stories and they don’t always have to be fiction. And Gage’s was a really fascinating story, and I’d always loved science. But that aside, his was a fascinating life story that just happened to come, you know, through nonfiction.

Actually more since you guys have left, I really did explore, like, all the different formats of how language gets to you. Because I can do that right now. I’m not tied down by having to teach something for AP. So this year, for example, in fifth grade, we did a graphic novel called Yummy, the History–nonfiction–of Desserts. But within that there were maps and charts that you really had to look at so we had to do what you do in English class, which is actually learn those skills, right? It just softened it a little because we were talking about chocolate and cupcakes. 

That’s a great way to do it. 

And I would bring in chocolate cupcakes. 

Oh really? Yeah, they’re lucky. So would you say you prefer teaching like middle school rather than high school? 

Absolutely. And for this very reason, cause I can still think about cupcakes and chocolate and the brain and having a pole put through the brain. And the kids love everything from sweet to gory. And I do too. You know, maybe I’m stuck in middle school. Maybe my brain is in middle school, too. 

This is a change of tone, but do you have any advice for Keystone students? I’m talking more about high school students who are worried about their next steps in life and going to college?

Yeah. I have a quote that I think about all the time, and I’m gonna have to find it. And I just love it, and of course it’s future related. It’s by Bob Goff and he was like this lawyer and he wrote a book that I refer to every once in a while, called Catching Whimsy. And he said “embrace the uncertainty, some of the most beautiful chapters in life won’t have a title until much later.” That’s all I’m going to say. 

Part III: Media Questions

Of all the Studio Ghibli films, what’s your favorite film? 

And that’s not fair. That’s not fair. Two, and for two different reasons I have two children. Totoro came out in ‘88, my son was born in ‘89. I watched it with him the first time when he was three or four. And to me, that was my introduction. It’s your first love, right? And my son is that big Totoro. Except now and he’s holding the umbrella over me now. My daughter, 100% is Kiki. in Kiki’s delivery service, taking her cat, taking her music and flying off. And I envy her and I’m excited for her and I would say keep flying. 

That’s so sweet. What’s your favorite music genre? 

Also not fair, because my husband would say, you know, sometimes we put our Spotifies on and he’ll listen to epic classical music and mine jumps from Korean pop to classic to “I love Miley Cyrus”. So I cannot say that I have a favorite. Like my literature. I like to go in and try it all because it all has something. It really does. How can you say… it’s like having a favorite instrument in an orchestra; you want the whole sound. And I like when I get to hear new things. Why should I have to choose?

And are you an e-book, audiobook or physical book reader?

Physical book. Yeah, some of that has to do with, for whatever reason, I don’t feel I absorb it as well with the e-book. Maybe it’s because your brain is trained so that you look at your phone and you scroll. It’s probably just because I’m older–but physical, and I have physical books for the kids now in my classroom too. I think it slows them down. 

I think it definitely does. I like your little library over there. 

I remember writing a mock Shakespeare paper in your class where we tried to imitate his style, so I was wondering if you like Shakespeare?

Um, I mean, I was a theater major, so I do like Shakespeare, but interestingly enough, now we do a mock Edgar Allan Poe. So in some ways, I guess I like Poe a little better than I like Shakespeare. And my favorite Shakespeare is probably Twelfth Night. 

Do you have any favorite pieces from Edgar Allan Poe? 

Oh! That’s a good question. I think maybe it’s Murders in the Rue Morgue. Yeah. And you know, The Cask of Amontillado, I love a good revenge story. I mean, who doesn’t, right? I, you know, I really, really do. But where in the Murders in the Rue Morgue–he still had his voice, but it was murder mystery. You know, he really wrote the first detective story before Sherlock Holmes did, and who’s the villain? Genius. Yeah. 

Yeah, he writes a lot of dark stories, doesn’t he?

He does. He does, but this was and maybe why this is why this is one of my favorites. I feel like he stepped outside of some of his, you know, problems, so to speak, that spilled out on the page and informed beautiful dark things, and he embraced more of the sort of analytical intellectual part of himself because he really, he created the first detective. Before Sherlock Holmes or any of those people. It was him. And people just don’t know that, and it was a really good story. 

I’ll be sure to read it then. This is a little bit of a more dense question, but one of the stories I remember reading from your class was “Flowers for Algernon”; Recently, we read Frankenstein, and both of the books addressed our right as a society to change the nature of what already exists. And so one of the quotes that I that I took from the story, “Flowers for Algernon” was, “I see now that the path I choose through the maze makes me what I am…—and knowing the paths I have followed and the ones left to take will help me understand what I am becoming” (Keyes), so I guess my question from this would be, do you think that we can choose our fate or is there like a set fate that we’re meant to follow?

Okay, it’s interesting because you know, I think two of my life quotes have to do with this idea of choice. One of them was from a basketball coach and he said that there’s a choice you have to make in everything you do–and I’m paraphrasing–what you must keep in mind is the choice you make, makes you. But the other one is one that I think is probably like more of my really more of my driving force kind of thing and I want to get correct cause sometimes I paraphrase it. “What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” And that implies that we have an inherent nature, whether it’s like Charlie (in Flowers for Algernon) had, right? But our choices and our actions–what you do with what was given to you–are what really will be important. And I think that’s our obligation: to do the best with what we were given, and don’t be like, oh, I wish I’d been given this or oh–save that for others (emphasis). They were given those. This is what you were given. So you know, from what you were given, what you do with that is your gift back. 

Oh, that’s a good way. to look at it.