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Found student well-liked, successful
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Also by Stacy Waite:
- Police find body of NIU student in area pond (April 20, 2004)
- Celebration riots lead to punishment at Iowa State (April 21, 2004)
- UW-L missing student recovered from river (April 16, 2004)
- Unauthorized drug-related shipments to Northwestern University spur criminal investigation (April 7, 2004)
- Bush puts time limit on Pell-grant collection (April 8, 2004)
Related Stories:
- Search begins for missing UW student (March 29, 2004)
- Seiler remains in Madison (April 6, 2004)
- Consequences of Seiler hoax remain undecided (April 14, 2004)
- Search for missing student continues (March 30, 2004)
- Jail time for Seiler doubtful (April 16, 2004)
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by Stacy Waite
Thursday, April 1, 2004
Not only was University of Wisconsin sophomore Audrey Seiler captain of the Minnesota Rockford Rockets varsity volleyball team, she had her own fan club.
Michael Tauber, a social studies teacher at Rockford High School who had Seiler in his economics class, said Seiler student-aided for his eighth-grade geography class her senior year. He said Seiler was more than well-liked by his students.
“All the boys in the class all loved her, and they made this ‘Audrey Fan Club,’” Tauber said. “They made t-shirts; they made signs, they cut out her pictures and put them on their notebooks.”
Tauber, who is also Seiler’s brother Kyle’s varsity basketball coach, said Seiler helped him immensely with the class, including grading papers, leading class discussions and working with the basketball teams.
She graduated third academically in her senior class of 120 students, was president of the school’s National Honor Society and worked with elementary school students in area summer-school programs. Tauber noted that Seiler’s brother is currently one of the best basketball players in the Minnesota Conference, and Seiler also played varsity basketball and volleyball.
Seiler’s varsity volleyball coach Jennifer Olson said Seiler was not only a very good student, but an excellent leader for the team.
“[Seiler] was the captain of the team, and all the girls really respected her and she was very positive,” Olson said. “She was always very comfortable approaching adults, and easily communicated anything to the kids [on the team].”
Seiler was also appointed to an all-conference team, won an all-academic conference award and received an all-academic state award in 2001. Seiler’s volleyball team and coaches voted her team leader and co-most dedicated player that same year.
Tauber said he traveled to the UW campus early Sunday morning partly to support Seiler’s brother and family, and participated heavily in Seiler’s investigation by posting flyers and searching the UW campus.
Tauber said he, along with Seiler’s family, is “ecstatic and relieved” that police found Seiler alive, but noted that Seiler’s rescue was a group effort.
“I know the family is very thankful not only people from Rockford searched, but also people from Madison and students created a big, big team effort,” Tauber said.
He also noted that although UW is a “big party school,” Seiler’s abduction does not affect his opinion of the school.
“Just to see how everybody can work together is good,” he said. “[An abduction] could happen anywhere, but the whole [UW] campus community made a pretty impressive effort.”
After witnessing nearly all of the media frenzy the UW sophomore created, Tauber said he can just imagine how overwhelmed Seiler was after her release from the hospital late Wednesday night.
“I can definitely say right now the thing I keep laughing about is that I can picture [Seiler] talking right now,” Tauber said. “She will not believe how big of a national deal this was, because she’s not going to see a lot of coverage — she’s going to be like, sick of talking about everything.”
