Tell us why you became a teacher

Ever since I was a little girl, I would always play pretend classroom and always told my dad I would be a kindergarten teacher. I wanted to spread kindness, joy, and a love of learning. As I grew up, I knew I wanted to help children become confident in who they are as people, and in turn in who they are as students.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

Every single day gives me another new memorable experience. I had a student for two years, she's on the Autism Spectrum. She had a G-tube and didn't know how to feed herself. We noticed she really loved mirrors, so we started putting a mirror in front of her during meal times. We would feed her in front of the mirror, then she would use the mirror to see herself eat, which helped with her hand eye coordination. Soon, she was feeding herself with confidence and without hesitation.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I just got engaged a few months ago, and my fiancé (boyfriend of 10 years) and I just bought our first home in January. I also want to go back to college to get my Autism Specialist Certification. I would pay for my Autism specialist courses, and donate some funds to my school. Our students are often low-income and currently Delaware doesn't recognize preschool so I would use some of my winnings to help my school.