Connect Tell us why you became a teacher

In a sense, I was born a teacher. As an 11-year-old, I tutored 5th graders in math. I conducted study tables for exams at my dining room table when I was in high school. I went to college to become a physician by majoring in science, partially because I was told that I should be a doctor. Then one of my college professors asked me to do an internship teaching science. He observed me serve as his teaching assistant in his class and suggested that teaching was for me and it was.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I had a student say on the first day of class "I hate chemistry" and I made her love chemistry.

What would you do with the $25,000?

Always looking for ways to enrich my students’ lives within and beyond the classroom, I would use this award to build a recording studio for podcasting "Sally B Explains Chemistry". I would also help our school to open a “community to cook with chemistry” project. I would call it the "Periodic Kitchen Table."