Teacher Hannah is not around these days in Room 300 at Arnold Elementary, except she sort of is.
Her clear, strong voice -- the one that propelled her forward on a national reality TV show -- still fills the space in the room, focusing the endless energy of 3- and 4-year-olds who spin and dip and jump and twirl to the rhythm of her voice emanating from Teacher Megan’s cellphone.
Hannah Huston, a 24-year-old teacher and Grand Island native, had to keep the biggest secret of her life for months while she corralled her charges at Arnold: that she’d been selected to audition for NBC’s “The Voice.â€
That she turned three of the celebrity judge's chairs on that first performance.
That she picked Team Pharrell so that she could be coached by hip-hop star Pharrell Williams, who performs the insanely big hit “Happy.â€
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Everyone in Room 300 knows and loves “Happy†but -- no offense Pharrell -- they love Teacher Hannah more. They love listening to her perform the songs on “The Voice,†to dance and twirl with abandon to the sound of their teacher on the big stage.
On Friday, Teacher Megan played “That-One-She-Did-With-The-Other-Lady†and everybody grabbed colorful scarves and started moving.
That would be “Elastic Heart,†which she performed during the Battle Rounds with Maya Smith, who -- no offense Maya -- has been relegated to “other lady†status in Room 300.
Huston, who is now in California preparing for the live rounds that begin airing Monday, said on a break in her hectic schedule recently that the best part of the experience for her has been sharing it with friends and family.
“It’s been a big moment for me,†she said. “It’s funny, because it happened months ago but I couldn’t share it with anybody. What’s so important is being supported and known and loved by people. That’s been really fun, being able to experience it with people who loved me before the show.â€
That includes Arianna Hartshorn, who took a moment from the important work of climbing the playground equipment on Friday morning to make sure a visitor knew about Teacher Hannah.
“She has a really good voice,†she said, and she was really silly on a recent visit.
Mariah Gonzales-Erickson will have the world know this: She’s beautiful. And fantastic.
Arianna agreed with this assessment.
"She's a nice teacher and I love her and she sings very pretty."
The thing is, she sang very pretty before “The Voice†discovered her.
Martha Ostrom, a resource teacher, said Huston sang all the time in class, made up songs on the fly for almost any occasion.
Anaji Martinez explains the difference now.
“They go to the microphone because you can hear it better."
And once that happened, the world watched as Huston progressed through the battle and knockout rounds and became an overnight sensation.
That was all very big, exciting news, except it also meant that the 20 preschoolers at Arnold had to bid Teacher Hannah farewell while she pursued her dream.
While she’s on leave this semester, Teacher Megan (Gronewold) took over and fit right into Room 300.
She knew just how to use that big yellow hourglass to signal when lunch would soon be over. She knew about criss-cross applesauce and how to sing “I like what Elija’s doing, keep it up, keep it up†when Elija was lining up just like he was supposed to line up. She knew all the good books and the best songs and that it was OK to take a little time to talk about Teacher Hannah.
“Oh yeah,†Gronewold said. “We talk a lot about her.â€
Teacher Hannah’s adventure, in fact, is a great teaching tool, prompting discussions on topics like airplanes and geography (where is California?).
The day after her performances air, Room 300 watches them. Some -- like a bunch of others in the school -- wear T-shirts made in her honor.
Frankly, this is a big deal for all of Arnold Elementary, which found itself -- along with the stars of Room 300 -- on national television when Huston auditioned.
That day in November, when a camera crew showed up to film Huston teaching her preschoolers and had to get things just right, was probably the biggest challenge for the school.
“I’ve never seen kids get on and off a bus that many times,†said Principal J.J. Wilkins.
Except “disruption†is not the right word for what has happened at the northwest Lincoln elementary.
“I would say the biggest thing is the excitement for the kids, the excitement of the staff,†he said.
The staff has viewing parties when she’s on and send group texts to her the minute she’s done. They’ve got the T-shirts and always make sure her next performance is noted in the school newsletter.
And it's created a lot of fans of "The Voice," including parents like Justin and Adayana Sandoval, who say it’s pretty cool to know someone who’s on national television, belting out “House of the Rising Sun†like nobody’s business.
“It’s the only reason we watch the show,†said Justin.
Since she went on leave in January, Huston has been back to visit Room 300 several times, though she worries she’s disrupting the learning going on with her preschoolers.
Absolutely no one in Room 300 -- or beyond -- agrees with her on that point.
Her experience is a great lesson for students, Wilkins said, about not being afraid to pursue dreams.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,†he said. “Everybody here and in the district office is excited for her.â€
Now that she's back in California, rehearsing for her first live performance, her Arnold fans have been busy figuring out how to vote for their favorite star -- and they’re telling everyone they know to do the same.
When the live rounds start, her most enthusiastic fans will be pulling for her.
“I hope she will win,†said a tutu-clad Caroline Brooks.
And they have words of encouragement, like Mariah's, they hope reach her halfway across the country.
“I’d tell her she’s a rock star.â€