Tell us why you became a teacher

Becoming a teacher started with my love for school. It turned into a mission or a passion so to speak. I wanted to make school a place where learning, growth, and mistakes can happen. Where students aren’t afraid to put themselves out there, to dream big, and ti be engaged in the learning. For me, even though I loved school, I wanted more engagement, more movement, and more opportunities for students to learn through application of the knowledge.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I remember vividly not enjoying science growing up. For me, I was forced to simply read out of a textbook and to retain the information that way and I vowed that when it was my turn to teach science it would be hands-on, engaging, and accessible for everyone. We did experiments every week, my husband came in and showed videos about engineering and we were hands-on every single day in science. From that point on, students mentioned daily about the importance of mistakes and how we learn from them

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would use it to gain additional materials for our curriculum library at University of Dubuque where I work. I have access to ELA curriculum, but I would like to access more for our pre-service teachers. Also, I would like to have speakers come to our college and train students in trauma informed care, which is important for our PSTs as they enter schools.