South Tahoe High teacher attempting to meet Duran Duran

Popular South Tahoe High English teacher Bridey Heidel is trying to attract the attention of musicians Duran Duran and television host Ellen DeGeneres.

Why you ask?

To understand we need to take a step back in time to the year 1983 when a young Bridey was in 7th grade. She had found the band Duran Duran at a very difficult time in her young life and they helped her cope with a life full of trauma as well as moving from town to town. By the time she graduated high school she had been in 26 schools.

"My Duran Duran music moved with me every time," Heidel said. The records made each move and she still has them today. "That music saved me."

She fell in love with Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran, and is still in love with them today. "It's probably an obsession," she jokingly says. Heidel has kept copies of every letter she wrote to Duran Duran from 1983-86.

She knew all of their nicknames and shoe sizes and everything else an obsessive 13-year-old fan does. When the Duran Duran lead singer got married on New Year's Eve the year young Bridey was in 9th grade, "I was pretty crushed and took it very hard."

Heidel decided one day that she was going to meet the band, and that she and Le Bon would get along great. In fact, she has some similarities with Le Bon. Her daughter was born on his birthday and his mom is an English teacher, just as Heidel is.

"In my mind he will always be 27," said Heidel. "But, he is a great 58!"

Heidel first saw the band when she was in her 30s and would love to meet them.

She started a facebook page, "Get Duran Duran to Reno and Bridey Backstage" four years ago. There are now over 1,500 fans of the page that features hints on how to held Heidel to 'The Ellen Show' to meet the band. She started the page when the band was going to be on popular show in 2011. Heidel tried to get tickets to the show but failed.

They will again be on the comedienne's show on September 23, 2015 and Heidel is trying again. Just like four years ago, there are no tickets available.

Many of those former students have joined her friends and are now aiding in Heidel's quest by writing letters to The Ellen Show. Short videos have been made and submitted along with the letters.

"It's silly, but why not?" Heidel said. "I am the ultimate optimist!"

“The fact that I am a teacher is a "ridiculously huge dream that shouldn’t ever have come true,” said Heidel. "It was an impossibility when I was 12."

"This has been an exercise in dreaming big," said Heidel. "What's the worst thing that could happen? It's the journey and not the destination, and about dreaming big."

The inspiring teacher carries dreaming and hope into the classroom. "If we can’t teach the kids to dream big dreams, what are we doing?"

If she finds her way to Los Angeles, Heidel says “From middle school to middle age, my dream is fulfilled!”

She attended South Tahoe High twice, once for a couple of months as a freshman, then she came back as a senior. Heidel attended six high schools, and once she was 15 she had had enough and struck out on her own and couch surfed until graduation.

First year teaching at the high school was in 1998. "Those kids still remember her obsession with Duran Duran," said Heidel.

"Hope is created through struggle and those people become optimistic people," she said. "If you don’t have struggle, you need to have a different path."

Heidel has helped many students in their struggles in school. She helped form ALLY, the South Tahoe High School club focused on a gay-straight alliances.

“It would be amazing to put this specific dream to rest!”