Tell us why you became a teacher

My great grandmother Pauline was a teacher and I loved staying with her when I was a little girl. She was always teaching me all kinds of different new things and taking me places to see new things and learn as much as I could. She read to me, encouraged me to try everything, and spent lots of time with me. She was the first in our family to graduate college as a young woman and she was an inspiration. She was always compassionate and taking me to visit neighbors and check on them. She taught!

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most important teaching experience was when I was teaching 8th grade math. One of my students was really struggling and I met with her and her mom. I just remember trying to inspire her and let her know that she was so capable of doing whatever she wanted and she should dream BIG!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would use it to help me to purchase a new car to drive to teach everyday. My current car is 2011 and it has 435,000 miles from driving to teach for all these years!