Teia mueller
P R E S E N T E D BY
A G E : 7 • T O W N : Eau Claire H E R G O O D D E E D : Volunteering for many social justice events in the CV
Volume One Kristo Orthodontics Smiles In Motion
TEIA MUELLER IS PASSIONATE ABOUT EQUALITY, which is why she has volunteered at several social justice events around the community. She got into this volunteering because her mom is the founder of the Chippewa Valley Equality Initiative (CVEI), but she continues to volunteer because she feels it is the right thing to do. Teia has volunteered at events like Eau Claire’s Pride Festival, the Juneteenth Celebration, a Stop Asian Hate Protest, the Daunte Wright protest, and others. She also helps out a lot with CVEI events like working the booths, handing out flyers, and even helping people make their jewelry at the booths. “The best part is that everybody is different, I saw people that were black, people that were white, I saw a lot of cool people,” Teia said. When she grows up, she said she wants to be a police officer so she can continue to help people in her neighborhood and make a difference in the department. “I want to fight for people,” Teia said. “I love that everybody is different. Just because someone looks different doesn’t mean they are different. We all are the same so we should be treated the same.”
benjamin thiede A G E : 9 • T O W N : Eau Claire H I S T R U E C A L L I N G : To save the bees!
BENJAMIN KNOWS ALL THE BUZZ. We don’t mean gossip, but honey bees! Benjamin watched his grandpa’s house and take care of bees in his backyard and knew he wanted to help. For the past two summers, Benjamin has helped his grandpa with his bees and the collecting of honey while also learning about how important bees are to the environment. “Without these pollinators, the world would have no flowers or anything,” Benjamin said. Benjamin’s favorite bee fact is that there can be 50,000 bees in a hive. Why so many? Because each bee produces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime. When collecting the honey, Benjamin explained a little bit of the process like using a hot knife to cut the initial wax layer that protects the honey, then putting the honeycomb into a honey extractor – which spins really fast – to separate the honey and the wax. After the honey is in jars, Benjamin said he likes to give people honey as a birthday present or sell it to people – which is his goal. Benjamin’s favorite part about the whole process is being able to taste the honey because there is nothing better than fresh honey after all that hard work. He plans to continue beekeeping as a side hobby when he is older to keep helping the bees collect the delicious honey.
| AUGUST 25, 2022
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