Tell us why you became a teacher

My career in education actually started when I was hired as a behavior interventionist. I worked with students on the Autism Spectrum and helped them adapt and learn in regular classrooms or in specialized classrooms just for them. I worked with this population for about 10 years and then felt the need to move on. I took some time and then became a Substitute teacher. Through that experience I realized I actually wanted a classroom of my own and so I went back to school and got my own classroom.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most memorable teaching experience was teaching during Covid shut down. I had started my teaching career in 2019 just before everything happened. In 2020 when we went online it created a different way of teaching. I made connections with students that stay to this day despite the short hours of teaching and the distance. I would keep my zoom room open after class hours to hang out with the students and they loved that time to just hang out.

What would you do with the $25,000?

This money would be a wonderful boon to our community as I would LOVE to start a makerspace somewhere close to my school or IN my school to allow the students from low-income families the opportunity to explore and learn about science through technology or simply by building things. Within this I also want to have a writing enter where the students can practice writing in a safe and fun way.