Full disclosure: this interview took place in the science Olympiad Classroom after school without Mrs. Gauvin. She was unable to make it, but because of her love for him, she gave Mr. Gauvin authority to answer for her. Her love for him is so strong that she knew he would give an awesome interview without her. And he is so awesome that that is exactly what he did.

Annika: Tell us the story of your fateful meeting.

Mr. Gauvin: She was a student for the University of Pennsylvania and I was working for a summer program there, and after she graduated Penn, she got a job here [at Harriton] and we got married after that.

Emily: What is the quality you admire the most about each other?

Mr. Gauvin: (to classroom full of science olympiaders) re you all enjoying listening to this interview? What I admire most about her is definitely her work ethic and her dedication. When she is passionate about something she just doesn’t give up on it. What does she love about me? She’s gonna love this. My big picture view of things, my ability to look far into the future, plan big picture. She admires that.

Annika: Do you have a couple name?

Emily: If not can we come up with one?

Mr. Gauvin: You can come up with one.

Emily: What are your first names?

Mr. Gauvin: Brian and Betsy.

Emily and Annika in unison: Bretsy.

Mr. Gauvin: Bretsy? Okay. You guys can work on that.

Annika: What is the best date you have ever gone on?

Mr. Gauvin: It would have to be…we absolutely love Rome, so a night that we went out to dinner in Rome. Out to dinner, walk past the fountains, view of the city, great gelato.

Emily: Why did you name your kids what you did?

Mr. Gauvin: Anna, we named her Anna because we love palendromes. So the name had to be a palindrome, we decided that Anna was the one. That’s legit.

Alex Herriot: (jumping in) You named your kid after a palindrome?

Mr. Gauvin: Yes, Anna won out because it was a palindrome.

Annika: What is the oddest experience yo have ever had in this school?

Alex Herriot: The Iced Tea Incident.

Mr. Gauvin: That was just gross, it’s not gonna be that. The oddest experience would have to be that…

Alex Herriot: The fact that you got into graduate school.

Mr. Gauvin: That’s not in this school! The oddest experience is that from first glance, from behind perhaps, Ms. Ahl looks a lot like Mrs Gauvin, and that can get very awkward very fast.

Emily: What is one thing from your childhood that you want to share with your kids?

Mr. Gauvin: A love of the outdoors. Camping. That is an absolutely non-sanctioned answer, because Mrs. Gauvin doesn’t like camping all too much, but I would love for Anna and Bobby to be outdoors and go camping and canoeing.

Annika: What would Mrs. Gauvin want to share?

Mr. Gauvin: Probably a love of playing music. That would be very important for her to share.

Annika: If you could go back in time would you have done IB (note: both Gauvins teach IB sciences)?

Mr. Gauvin: I think I would have. I don’t know that I would have been successful in it, but I would have done it. One of my motivating factors was if it was the harder thing to do, I definitely would have done it, but I didn’t have the work ethic that I expect of my IB students. Mrs. Gauvin was an incredible student. She would have done it. It took me a long time to figure that out. Junior year of college, that’s when I got it.

Annika: What is a quality that you think is essential to two people in a relationship?

Mr. Gauvin: Patience. A sense of humor helps too.

Annika: What would she say?

Mr. Gauvin: Patience. And a sence of humor. You’re gonna do a lot of stupid stuff, and when you try to defend it, that’s bad. You have to just laugh at yourself.

Personal Statement: When we first started working together, I thought it was going to be pretty bad. But it’s a pretty good thing. It’s pretty awesome.