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Student remembers Bay Port High School teacher who dies after COVID-19 hospitalization

Posted at 7:44 PM, Sep 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-19 00:09:31-04

GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Caitlin Kitchen sat in Heidi Hussli's German class for three years at Bay Port High School. She remembers taking the final her senior year -- Hussli took the class out to dinner at a German restaurant and made them all order food and converse in German.

“She took her hair out of the bun that she always wore and swished it around, and we were all cheering and clapping like, ‘Yeah! Frau took her hair down!’ and it was just such a beautiful moment," Kitchen recalled, laughing. “She was one of the best teachers that I’ve ever had.”

Heidi Hussli, 47, died Thursday after being hospitalized for COVID-19. She started the school year in the classroom before falling ill, and it is still unknown how she contracted the virus. She had no close contact with students after learning she had COVID-19, district officials said.

As soon as Kitchen and other former classmates heard the news yesterday, they started a Facebook chat, sharing memories from class.

“It was so much fun," said Kitchen. "It didn’t even feel like school. It felt like we were just getting together for German club.”

Kitchen and many others continued to study German, some declaring majors or minors, because of Hussli.

“It is just mind-boggling to think about the impact she had on her community," she said.

Kitchen, currently taking online classes for her last year at University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, had been thinking about returning to Bay Port to see her former teachers and thank those who impacted her life. But then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.

“Of all of the teachers that I thought of, I thought of her the most," Kitchen said. "And just the idea that I can’t do that with her anymore and share that with her is just heartbreaking.”

Hussli's love of German was unmatched, she said.

“German and German class and teaching it and going to Germany was just a passion for her, she loved it," said Kitchen. "She risked her own health and the health of her family just to do something that she loved.”

But her love for students was even greater.

“She cared about me as a person and not just me as a student," said Kitchen.

Bay Port has lost a really great teacher, she said.

“Heidi Hussli said something like, ‘If we want to make the world a better place we have to change it ourselves.’”