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Arizona Civics Podcast
Welcome to the Arizona Civics Podcast. This podcast aims to share our journey of sustaining Arizona’s interests in reforms to civic education by working with civic educators in our state. This work is being done by the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University. I am your host, Liz Evans, Civic Education and Outreach Program Director at ASU, and I will interview Arizona teachers, content experts, and leaders in civic education. We hope you enjoy our journey to make Arizona a national civics model!
Arizona Civics Podcast
How a Teacher Turned Advocate Reimagines Civic Life in Arizona
A crowded kindergarten room, a sudden crack in the ceiling, and a teacher who jumps first to shield her students—Laura Terech’s story starts with instinct and turns into impact. From art history to Title I classrooms, from a six‑year health battle to the Arizona State House, we explore how a winding path can still lead straight to the heart of public service.
We dig into the moment Arizona cut full‑day kindergarten funding and why early learning time isn’t “just babysitting” but the bedrock of literacy, social growth, and long‑term success. Laura walks us through the call that went unanswered, the decision to take the fight to the Capitol, and the long road back from illness that began with one small act: showing up to volunteer. That habit—care deeply, raise your hand often—opened doors to campaign work, nonprofit policy tracking, and ultimately a seat in a purple district where cooperation wasn’t a slogan but a mandate. You’ll hear how a teacher caucus prepared seven and a half hours for a 30‑minute debate, how bipartisan trust helped pass major policy on water and elections, and how the simple phrase “I hear your passion” can cool a midnight negotiation.
Now, as executive director of Arizona America 250, Laura brings that educator’s mindset to a statewide celebration of the nation’s semi‑quincentennial. We highlight a student town hall with all three branches of government, a traveling museum that will tour the Replica Liberty Bell through all 15 counties, and a pathway to the Seal of Civic Literacy for students. Plus, discover Passport 250—a partnership with the Arizona Office of Tourism featuring 250 sites across the state—and the powerful moment a 17‑year‑old’s winning logo design headed to the Smithsonian. Along the way, we talk about patriotism as something personal: how you show up for neighbors, define community broadly, and make room for everyone in the story.
If you believe small steps can spark big change, press play—and then tell a friend. Subscribe, leave a review, and share your take: what’s one action you’ll take for your community this week?
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Welcome to the Arizona Civics podcast. Today, my guest is Laura Tarek. And Laura and I met we're in civic circles together, but Laura is currently the executive director of the Arizona America 250. And we got to talking, and I basically begged her, because I love her story, to come on our Arizona Civics podcast to kind of talk about her journey through participating in civic life and how that can look different for everyone. Because sometimes we think that there are only certain ways to be a part of civic life, whether it's to be a state representative or to run for office, but there's so many different ways. So, Laura, thank you so much for being here. You started in art history, right? And then you ended up teaching in Title I schools here in Arizona. What drew you into the classroom and how did that experience shape your view of education?
SPEAKER_01:Well, great question. And Liz, I'm so I'm so happy to be here and chat with you. Um, yeah, it it's been a circuitous path. And I think that's true of most people I know. I I think that's it's the exception to the rule rather than the rule, people who kind of know what they want to do from the time they're a young kid and just go go do it. Mine was more roundabout. Um, so I got my undergraduate degree from U of A in Art History, and then I went to graduate school in Syracuse. And when I was there, I realized that, you know, academia is a beautiful thing, uh, but it's not necessarily for me. And and I wanted to give back in a way that that felt more that I could kind of really live and breathe every single day rather than than researching, which is so necessary, but not not my path. So what I had discovered at my in my time during at Syracuse, I was a teaching assistant there, and I thought, well, the art history piece is nice, but what I really love is is teaching. And I thought about where can I where can I feel like I'm making the most difference? Um, and and so I moved back to Arizona, I got my master's degree uh in education from ASU and then started teaching kindergarten and second grade in in a Title I school district in the West Valley.
SPEAKER_00:And I agree. Academia is great, but there's something about teaching that just drew me to it as well. Um, and I'm glad that you shared that your path was a little bit different, right? I think sometimes we students think they have to go to college to get their degree, and then they go into exactly what they got their degree from. But a lot of times during college, we find the things that we really truly like. We were chatting a while ago and you told me a story about a literal ceiling collapse early on in your teaching career. Can you tell us that story and then how moments like that influence your decision to advocate for schools more broadly?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and Liz, I mean, to start with, and I think you touched on this in the last question, is like, what did that teach me about, you know, being an educator in Arizona? I mean, first and foremost, and this is this is relevant to the ceiling story, is how many kids were packed into my classroom? Um, I taught, as I mentioned, kindergarten. And these are kiddos who a lot of them had never been to preschool before, you know, they hadn't had the opportunity to go to any kind of formal setting. They've maybe never been away from home before. They were maybe learning English as a second language. And I there was not a single year that I taught kindergarten that I started with less than 34, 35, 36 kids uh in the room, which is so jam-packed that it was hard to even move around in between the tables because, you know, with the little backpacks and everything, it just got so crowded. So one morning I had all of the, you know, my 30 plus kids sitting in front of me on the rug. We're we're about to start our morning reading, sitting in my rocking chair, and I hear this terrible crack from above. And I looked up at my ceiling and I just thought, oh my gosh, that's coming down. And sure enough, it was. It was those big, you know, kind of foamish panels. Two of the big ones came down along with the metal framing that was holding it up. Now, I am not a coordinated person in any way, shape, or form. My students used to make fun of me because I famously cannot even clap on rhythm. But that was one of those like adrenaline mama bear lifting the car kind of thing, because I was able to jump up and shield the kids with my body so the debris hit me, and then I was able to catch the metal framing. Um, cut my hand, had to go get a tetanus shot, the whole, the whole shebang. But I'm I'm just so grateful to this day. I can still feel that that moment. And I'm just so grateful that that I was the only one injured, not the kids. But it goes to, you know, it speaks to the state of education in Arizona, uh, which we can do a lot, lot more for our kids.
SPEAKER_00:And so we've talked about too kind of the the funding of full day kindergarten was a turning point for you. How did that issue push you to running for office? And what did the journey to the Arizona State House look like for you?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, I was still in the classroom when um the state stopped funding Full Day Kinder. And I saw what a difference that made for my students. I mean, they really needed all of that educational time to set their foundation for their future learning success. Um and I remember reading in the paper, there was a lawmaker at the time who said something to the effect of like, well, it doesn't, it doesn't really matter because kindergarten is just babysitting anyway. Oh and I was so, I know it, and I was so stunned. I was just like, oh, this this person doesn't have any idea. You know, they're thinking about kindergarten from 40, 50 years ago. It's so different now. Like they've got to come and see what we do. So I called his, I called that that lawmaker's office and and I said, Hey, I would really love for him to come and spend the day with us so you can see how important this early learning time is. And of course, I never got a response from him, but I thought, you know what? If you're not gonna come to my house and take care of my kids, then I'm gonna go to your house and change the laws. So I uh I was very active in sort of advocating for for education and for my students at the time. Uh it again, we talked about being circuitous paths. It was not a straight line from that incident uh in to me running for house. There was a bit of a break there, which which I'm happy to to get into as we all have have challenges in our lives.
SPEAKER_00:So you balanced being a teacher or a legislator, and then you brought up facing personal health challenges. How did you find resilience through those experiences? And how did they shape your priorities in public service?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, so I didn't leave the classroom by choice. I had to leave because I started experiencing really significant health issues that radically changed my entire life. And so I had to stop working. Um, I couldn't work for about six years. I thought I would never work again. Uh I thought I would never get better during that time. It was an incredibly dark time in my life. I mean, the reason that I had left Syracuse was because I was kind of searching for meaning. I wanted to feel like I was giving back to my community and making a difference. And to be disconnected from that, from the students that I had loved so much and the work that I had poured my entire heart into was so hard. I was, I was so ill that the only time I left the house was to go to the grocery store and to the doctor. Um, I there was just absolutely no quality of life. And this was years ago. I think things are a little bit different now, but I remember, you know, I would try to reach out and volunteer and I would let people know, hey, you know, my my health issues are such that I can say that I'm gonna be there and I can want to be there, but if something happens the day of and I'm in rough shape, I'm not gonna be able to make it. And I know you ask for, you know, a two-hour commitment. I don't know that I can guarantee that. And, you know, I may have to cancel at the very last minute, and I would continually get back sort of like, well, thanks, but no thanks. And I just, I was so disconnected during that time from from who I was and and purpose. Um finally, what happened? You know, I got I battled through more than two dozen surgeries over the course of that time. Finally, finally, finally, my my doctors suggested a surgery and they said, well, you you need to know this could make things better, but it could easily make things worse. And that was one of the scariest decisions that I have ever made in my life, because I thought if things get worse, I don't know that I can survive that. And it was a huge decision to to to make to have that surgery. But I thought, you know what? If there's a chance that I could get my life back, I have to take it. And fortune favors the bold, right? So I did the surgery, and and lo and behold, that was sort of the magic piece, and it finally set me on the road to recovery, which took about another 18 months. So I had plenty of time during that interim to think about okay, it looks like I can maybe go back to work, I can start doing more, you know, what is that gonna look like? And I was hesitant to go back into the classroom in Arizona because it's it's such a difficult environment to to teach in. Um, I mean, the kids are wonderful, your colleagues are wonderful, but it's, you know, there's so much more that we can be doing for our kids. So I thought, well, let me explore some other options. Um, so I started volunteering and and and looking at different organizations. And I still remember I found this group of women who were advocating for women's issues, and I thought, okay, I'll I'll go to one of their meetings. And I sat in the parking lot, you know, waiting to go in, just like this timid little mouse, because I thought to myself, you know, I'd had this long stretch of not working and a and a message that I got continually during those years from, you know, the world, from sometimes people close to me was like, well, if you're not working, you are not a person of value. You're not contributing anything to the world. And I had really internalized that. So I sat out in that parking lot and I just thought, gosh, what on earth can I offer anyone? You know, I don't have the worth. What, what can I even possibly bring to the table here? And I was so frightened. But I thought, I said to myself, I was like, okay, well, you can care and you can show up. And Liz, little did I know that like that's it, that's the secret sauce to to success in life is like raise your hand and and care a lot. So I I made a promise to myself that when when they were asking for for, you know, hey, can somebody take on this project or can somebody do it? I would oftentimes raise my hand and say, Well, I've never done anything like that before, but I'm willing to give it a try. And it just grew the most beautiful things for me in my life. It just expanded outward so much. My network just exploded. And I got to work on a state legislature campaign. Uh, I started working for a nonprofit, um, working on, you know, looking at legislation in Arizona and bill tracking. And then I started getting asked to to run for office. And I just thought, oh my gosh, what a what a full, full circle moment this is. It's finally time to take that advocacy and passion for education for my students to the statehouse. And I, it, it's still like a pinch me moment that that I got to sign on to co-sponsor a bill to restore full day funding, full day kinder funding in Arizona. And it was like I went from advocating for that group of 30 kids in my classroom to advocating for kids across the entire state. And what an incredible gift uh that that is.
SPEAKER_00:I I know what that feels like, and I know that there are people listening that say, like, I've been in a place where I've been sitting in the car and I'm like, I don't know, like what I have to offer. And, you know, there are a lot of educators, unfortunately, that have to leave the classroom for health issues. It is, I think, something really not spoken about a lot. There are educators that have to leave, there are educators that are still in the classroom dealing with health issues. So thank you for sharing that. And I hope that somebody listening to this hears that and hears this story. Um, because I know when you first shared it with me, I just felt so inspired because it was. It was this little step of getting out of the car that just changed things. And volunteering is such a great thing because you get to try things and you get to work with people who maybe aren't experts either. And it's fun to problem solve and and work things out. And so you go to the legislature. Arizona has a pretty divided legislature. Um, I don't think that we're special. I think that's a lot of the state houses. But in that legislature, you built bridges, especially through the teacher caucus. What has bipartisanship looked like in practice? And what impact has the caucus had on educational policy here in Arizona?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'll touch on the bipartisanship in just a second, but I have to shout out the incredible uh teacher caucus. So it was um the four minority members of the House Education Committee were all former or current educators, which is pretty unique. Uh, a lot of times you're you're kind of assigned committees based on possibly your subject matter expertise, but also, you know, just to fill out spots. And so not everyone who sits on that education committee has a background in education. And the four teachers, you know, that that that sat on that that committee, we just had so much fun together. There was a bill that we were preparing a debate for, and the the bill itself, the discussion was 30 minutes, and we prepared seven and a half hours for that 30-minute debate. Because we're teachers and we plan and we prepared. Um, and and you know, one of the my my mentor, Jennifer Pollock, former representative there, uh, she started this trend of bringing in, like during the interim, she would bring in educational experts to just kind of do a lunch and learn for for members of both caucuses, you know, totally bipartisan about hey, here's an area of education that that we can look at and do kind of a deep dive in. So I got to host some of those. I hosted one on school safety and another on the importance of early childhood learning, the birth to three period in particular. Um and it was so it was so incredible to do some of that work behind the scenes that that isn't often talked about, but definitely happens. And uh, and yeah, I I will always smile when I think of the teacher caucus. Um, but I also really went down, I mean, I'm a kindergarten teacher at heart, right? Like uh um working together, cooperation, collaboration is like in my DNA. And I I was also elected from a swing district, um, from a district that was very purple, you know, bit bits of red, bits of blue. There are only a handful of those in the entire state. And so I knew that my district sent me there with a with a mandate to work together. And I'm really proud that I passed, helped pass two major pieces of bipartisan policy, one in uh on water and another in elections, which are two pretty can be pretty contentious topics. But that all came about because of relationships that I had developed with my colleagues across the aisle. And it's such a strange environment. You know, there were people there. Like when I first got there, I reached out to everyone that I sat on um committees with from across the aisle that I hadn't had a chance to meet yet. And I said, Hey, can I, we're gonna be serving on this committee together. Can I can I set up a meeting, you know, with you just to kind of get to know each other and chat a little bit before all this kind of hoop loss starts? And of the maybe like 10 or 12 that I reached out to, I think only three took me up on that offer. Um, and those are those are the kinds of things that make it a little challenging, but but you persevere. And so I really worked to try and build those relationships so that when these bipartisan negotiations would would come up, there was a level of trust there. And, you know, this person does what they say they're gonna do and they negotiate in good faith. Uh, that's really important. And I am I am really proud of that work because it doesn't come easy. In my kind of goodbye, in my final floor speech on on the floor of the state house, I said, you know, your job as a as a swing district member is to take the punches from all sides and and somehow stay standing because after all, bruises are purple. And I have I have always carried that with me.
SPEAKER_00:I love that. And Arizona has such a deep history of um people working in government, working on bipartisanship. I'm thinking about like Senator McCain, I'm thinking about Sandra Day O'Connor. And I'm glad that you bring that up because I think that a lot of people don't realize that there is actually a lot of bipartisanship within. We tend to hear about the issues that are not bipartisan, right? They're very partisan. Um and I really too appreciate that you talked about this full circle moment. As somebody with a degree in early childhood education, I know how important that is, you know, even the pre-K stuff. And so the fact that you saw a problem at first you were trying it for your 30 kids, and then you saw a bigger solution. Like that to me is that's public service, that is civic life, and that is the power of an educator. I think educators are so undervalued. Um, and people don't see those kinds of things coming, but the love and passion we have for teaching for our students can create these incredible things. So now you're transitioning to this new role uh with Arizona America 250, which I am stoked about. And I know that we've already worked on a couple of things together. So, what excites you most about this work? And how do you see your background as both an educator and a legislator shaping this approach?
SPEAKER_01:Well, this is such a cool project that I am so fortunate to be able to work on. So many of the things that I loved about being a legislator, being someone who approaches the community from a service standpoint, I still get to do so many of those things. So I get to travel the state, talk to all kinds of people, meet people that I never would have met otherwise. And we're working in so many different arenas, you know, tourism, civic engagement, um, arts and culture, uh, you know, military and veterans' affairs. And it's really just an incredible project. And maybe I should back up a bit. So every state has one of these commissions that's charged with um organizing all the statewide public programming for the country's 250th next year. So we just get to do so many cool things. Like one of our projects, we're doing a student town hall with representatives from all three branches of government. That'll be on October 21st. And it's a chance for Arizona's young people to ask questions about what the functionality is in practice of our three branches and the importance of civic engagement and voting. We are putting together a traveling museum. We're going to pick up Arizona's Replica Liberty Bell and tour it to all 15 Arizona counties. We'll showcase, you know, American history, the founding and the ideals that we all hold so dear, and then also Arizona, past, present, and future. Uh, and within that, students who engage with the traveling museum, it can help them earn credit hours toward the seal of civics literacy on their high school diploma. So all of these overlapping pieces, you know, we're we're highlighting tourism as we make all these stuffs. We're highlighting the support from the business community, our strong relationships with municipalities, education. I mean, that's so much of the work that I love to do at the legislature and that I tried to do in a very small way at my school. Um, I get to do it for the entire state now, and and I feel so fortunate um to be able to do that. Secretary Fontez chairs the the committee. Um, and we just have so many exciting plans in in the works. I think that this is also a really unique opportunity in our country's history. I mean, these these come around, you know, not very often, are the semi-quincentennial. And it's a chance for all of us, I think, to kind of reflect on what patriotism means to each each one of us. I think of patriotism as something very, very personal. Uh, it's about how I show up for my neighbors, it's about how I show up for my community. Now I have a very broad view of community, you know, or or neighbors. When I was knocking on doors um to win my election, they'd knock on a door and hi, I'm your neighbor, and they'd say, Where do you live? And I'm like, oh, you know, about 15 minutes south, but this is this is our district. This is our shared district. You're my neighbor. And when when my students would come into the classroom every morning, I would greet them, you know, hi, friend. And and I take that mentality to this too. Um, it's a really wonderful opportunity to have some of those conversations about like what do we want this to look like individually as Arizonans and as Americans? And I am so grateful to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_00:So, can I ask what your favorite part is? Because I know, I mean, again, I've been involved in this for a little bit. So I'm already like the dyne 250, the hike 250, the dark skies 250. Like I I have been digging through because I, you know, I am I am native. I've been here since I was six, so almost 40 years. Um but I love, I mean, and again, I'm biased and I'm totally fine with that. But our state is so diverse, it's so unique. Our history, you know, there's so many just incredibly cool things about our state. And maybe this is a hard question for you, but do you have something that you're like so excited to do or to try with this, you know, Passport 250?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my gosh. Well, speaking, I do have a favorite moment that I'll share. But speaking of passport 250, this is our partnership with the Arizona Office of Tourism and what it is, uh, people can sign up for the pass on there on uh azpassport250.com. And it's a list of 250 sites across Arizona that people can visit and experience in in some of the categories that you mentioned. And as they do, as they explore our state, they're eligible for prizes and giveaways, all kinds of fun things. But you know, I've I've been in Arizona 40 years, and I I receive all the submissions for for um because people people can nominate for Passport 250. So I see all of the sites that come in. There are places that are like a mile from where I grew up that I never knew about. And I can't wait to get out and explore more of this state that I love so, so much. So I'm I'm really excited about that. If I had to pick a standout, and there are so many, if I had to pick a standout, I know we held a, you know, every state has a logo and we held a contest for ours, and we invited talented Arizonians from across the state to submit their designs. The commission chose 10, and then those went forward for a public vote. And our winner just happened to be a 17-year-old high school student. Her name is Riley Hammett. She is absolutely amazing. And I got, so we she was the winner. We, you know, produced her logo. We have the stickers and it's on all the banners and things. It's so exciting. And I got some, I got an email the other day I said from someone, and they said, Oh, I'm putting together, we're putting together a semi-quincentennial exhibition. Can you send us something very small from Arizona? And I thought, oh, perfect. Let me send the sticker. So I packaged it up, wrote a little note, sent it off. Then I had the distinct pleasure of texting Riley's mom and saying, something that your daughter made because she was bored in class one day is now on its way to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. And that I still get chills. Um it goes to show like these are the kinds of stories that we want to tell. It's so important to the secretary, to the commission, that this is something that all Arizonans see themselves in and want to be a part of. And we are just so excited to celebrate it with our state.
SPEAKER_00:I'm thinking of Moose Henry's up in Sholo, Arizona, which is probably one of our favorite places to go when we head up to Sholo. Like, spotlight these places, whether they're restaurants or breweries or wineries or tourist attractions. What a cool thing. Because I think people come to Arizona and they think heat, they think Grand Canyon, and that's it. But there is so much more. We did do um a podcast interview with Secretary Fontez. Thank you to Laura for setting that up that talks a little bit more about it. Laura, before we close, can I just ask if there is an educator out there that is struggling or is just, you know, and I know you know this. Sometimes as educators, that passion dips, and we don't think we can do anything but teach. Do you have any words of wisdom for somebody like that, or maybe just a citizen who's like, I don't really know what to do next?
SPEAKER_01:A couple things. Um, I understand how it feels when that passion dips, but being an educator is truly something so special. And I think being active about looking for those moments and leaning into them and holding on and savoring them for yourself, I think that's so important. And I'll give an example. So I was negotiating a bill with one of my colleagues across the aisle, and these were tough negotiations. And so there was a late night phone call that was very, very, very heated. And my colleague was on the other end. Um, they were relaying a message through me, uh, and it was it was passionate, shall we say? And I listened to the end of this huge screaming rant. And I just said, I thank you, my friend. I I hear your passion, I hear how much you care about this. I will relay that message. And that's all I said. I didn't react to it, I didn't take the bait, I didn't start yelling back. I just said, I hear you, I hear you right now. And I think that's a that's a skill that our educators have to be compassionate, to listen, to look for the best in people. And that's really rare. And so holding on to those moments for yourself, you do that every single day in the classroom in ways that you don't even know about. And it is it is a gift to our state. Uh, education is the engine that makes our entire state run. And so, just from the bottom of my heart, a big, big thank you to all of our teachers out there.
SPEAKER_00:Wonderful. Laura, thank you so much for your expertise, for what you're doing for our state and for sharing your story. We really appreciated having you on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.
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