Tell us why you became a teacher

I became a teacher because it was a career that could travel with my family. My husband was in the Military and we moved every few years. Once I started school, I decided to add my special education endorsement, allowing me to be dual certified open doors for me. Once I got my first job as a special education teacher, I never looked back.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

OH man, there are so many. The most memorable teaching moment has been communication. I had a student, non-verbal and visually impaired. He started his communication journey by dragging adults to things he wanted, needed. We put him on a device called a BigMac- a one button phrase. His first phrase was "yes." After that he went to TACs, to PECs, and ultimately ended up with an AAC (iPad) with a full scale communication platform. He can officially communicate with anyone willing to listen.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I have some student debt I would like to pay off, I want to buy more communication boards for our school, and pour the money into our families. I want to take my class to Challenge Alaska this year- an adaptive skiing, snowboarding, and sledding program.