I don’t know if I chose to become a teacher; I feel like it was always a part of who I am. Since I was little, I had this drive in me to make a difference in people’s lives and this world. I remember at seven trying to teach my best friend how to talk to his mom after a huge fight, teaching kids in school how to create comics and write short stories. Today, I get to see my students finish college, start families and careers. It's always about helping other people. The why is making a difference.

It was during COVID. We were doing everything to keep our students learning. We were virtual teaching, figuring out new uses for technology, and I even created a YouTube video, “Some Good News OLMC” The highlight was in trying to help those kids who were struggling. So, we put together care packages to be delivered to each house. I agreed to wear a bright, pink, inflatable, unicorn costume to each stop, jump out of our school’s unmarked van and dance my way up and deliver the care package.

For my beautiful, brilliant wife, I would take her on a nice vacation. I haven’t taken a sick day or a vacation day during the school year in sixteen years. She loves to travel, and this would allow me to do that. The rest of the money I would honestly use to keep our school going. My needs are nowhere close to those of the community. I would fund our adoption of a student tuition program, set up an emergency fund for struggling families in the area, and greatly add to our tiny library.