Tell us why you became a teacher

Tbh, I wasn't the best student (cite undiagnosed ADHD), so I always had to reteach myself everything at home in order to pass the class, except I always excelled in history. I credit my dad for making me a history buff like him, but I also owe credit Mr. Titus for making learning fun. When most students were like "why do we have to learn about these dead guys" I was like "can you believe how scandalous it was that the US intercepted the Zimmerman telegram."

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

At the end of my internship, my mentor teacher secretly sent out a Padlet to the students to leave a nice farewell message. I was in tears reading all of the posts from my 8th graders saying they'll miss me, wishing me luck, and calling me the GOAT. He printed it out and there were 24 pages worth of goodbye messages that I will keep forever to remind me of my "why".

What would you do with the $25,000?

I currently still live at home and drive a car from 2009 so I would definitely upgrade those circumstances. But I would also reinvest it into my classroom-- being at a public school in FL means that I have to stretch every penny.