Ashley Wilkins

Tell us why you became a teacher

I started teaching because I loved working with students with disabilities. The way they see the world is incredible. My student have such positive attitudes regardless of what they are physically going through. I wanted to teach those students that don’t typically make great progress in one day but when they do, it’s an incredible day.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I don’t think I have just one memorable experience. I will say that the appreciation and gratitude I receive from the parents/guardians for teaching their children is what gets me through each day. I’ve never experienced such gracious support as I do from them. Some parents truly don’t know how to work with their kids and I get to help them do that. It’s really amazing to be a small part in that.

What would you do with the $25,000?

The population of students I work with need guardianship so that their parents can be responsible for their care after the age of 18. This isn’t a cheap process and I want to help scholarship that for families that can’t afford it but truly need it.