Leah Yost

Tell us why you became a teacher

There wasn’t one thing that made me realize I wanted to be a teacher. Throughout high school, I had multiple experiences where I worked with children. I also had young family members. I always knew I would want a family of my own one day - teachers have amazing schedules. So in a nut shell, I became a teacher because I have a passion to help children and love the schedule.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I had a student who had some behavior struggles. These struggles resulted in physical, mental, and emotional abuse to not only himself but to me and his classmates. I was pregnant at the time so that made the struggles a lot worse. Throughout the year I grew to understand his struggles and how to handle them in a different way. It’s like we began to have our own language. By the end of the year, his struggles nearly disappeared and I had gained a different understanding for this student.

What would you do with the $25,000?

A few things. I have two children - I would like to put money away to go towards their college funds or money for them to use to help them in the adult world after high school. I would use some to help pay off my student debt. I would also like to use some money for my classroom. Anything to increase my library, manipulatives, activities, etc. would be useful. $25,000 is a lot of money in my world - I would be so thankful just to have a few things lifted off my shoulders.