Laura Eriksen

Tell us why you became a teacher

I wanted to make a difference in the lives of children. I wanted the time they are with me to be happy. Many of them have very painful home lives and I wanted their school day to be a bright spot in their lives.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

A little first grade girl would suddenly be overtaken with grief and burst out crying in my class because she missed her drug addicted mom who abandoned her for a life of drugs. At a parent teacher conference she gave me a glass dolphin. She told me her mom had given it to her. I told her dad I couldn’t take possibly it being from her mom. He said, “She wants you to have it because you have been a mom to her this year.” I have kept it for decades. This is my thirtieth year of teaching.

What would you do with the $25,000?

Build a savings that I’ve never been able to and I’m invest some of it.