Tell us why you became a teacher

My mom was a teacher and I always felt like it would be fun for me. I worked with the special needs in college and I worked at a boys home and felt this desire to help. I’ve always wanted to help and get kids to achieve.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I think one of the things about teaching is that every day has memorable moments, but I’ll never forget when I taught 8th grade 5 years ago and I had a girl who was very self conscious of her nystigmas. I pulled her aside and I pumped her up. I wear glasses so I know how socially draining it can be when your eyes do funny things. Needless to say, she is going onto college now, and sends me yearly letters of how she does and how that moment helped her gain confidence in herself.

What would you do with the $25,000?

Recently I had a son and he was born with hard of hearing. To the point where hearing aids are needed. Our insurance doesn’t cover them so we have to out of pocket the expense. I’d use that money to pay those off and like all teachers, I want to just spend it on my students. But I’d want to travel with my little family to Asia and see some amazing sights and with with my son’s new tech-aided hearing, we can visit for the sounds too.