Tell us why you became a teacher

I didnt know what I wanted to do with life, but I knew I loved helping people. My family and high school English teacher suggested I become an English teacher, and I've never looked back since. I love literature and teaching it to my high school students. I love the chaos that some books bring and the personalities of my students. I love teaching, but my greatest enjoyment is getting to know my students as people and watching them grow into young adults.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most memorable teaching experience is when a group of students made me a "mom fridge". I am not a mom, but often some of my students joked that I was class mom because we talked about life in an English class. While I was away one day, they created a fridge from my cabinet and paper. They hung photos of their memories and my time with them and called it the, "proud mom fridge". They have since graduated, but I still keep in contact with them and love hearing how life is going.

What would you do with the $25,000?

With 25,000, I would pay off some small debt. After that, I would like to find charities or organizations to bless with funds or needs that they have. My community and students have given so much to me, I would love to give back. I would help fund organizations that students are apart of, i.e, boy scouts, food banks, mobile libraries, etc.