When Old Quarry Middle School teacher Jill Dulany-Hollander invited a guest speaker to her eighth-grade class, she had no idea the impact he would make on her students.

Hollander, a literature, language arts and social studies teacher at Old Quarry, is currently working on her doctorate in education. But when it comes to experience in the writing and publishing field, she turned to an expert — her father, Aurora University teacher Dave Dulany. He came to her classroom earlier in the school year to talk to the students about his recently published book and answer questions about professional writing and publishing.

During his visit, the students were also interested in his hobbies outside of writing and learned he enjoys flying kites.

Because of the students’ interest in her father’s hobby, Hollander decided to surprise them with a “Fly High with Vocabulary” activity. Last week, she and her students spent the morning outside flying kites. Her father came to help.

“It was amazing to see 45 kites up in the air at the same time,” Hollander said. “The students had an incredible time, which was our goal for this “Fly High with Vocabulary” activity.”

She describes the day as one of the most rewarding in her teaching career.

“I saw the students truly happy and engaged,” she said.