Tell us why you became a teacher

I wanted to become a teacher because most of the most influential people in my life are teachers. I grew up with a single mother who was a math teacher. I of course wanted to be just like her growing up and decided early I wanted to be a teacher. This idea was solidified when I was in middle school. I had a teacher that not only made me love science, but also gave me a desire to want to pass on this love to students.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My second year of teaching I had a student who absolutely hated science when she first arrived in my class. This student had a rough home life and had previously struggled with science. However, over the course of the year in my class she ended up falling in love with science and decided that she wanted to be a science teacher as well. This student is in high school now, and comes to visit me often. She still wants to be a science teacher.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would really like to be able to start saving money to buy a house and 25,000 dollars would be helpful towards that. I also use a lot of my own money to buy incentives for my students and would really like to be able to do that more often!