Jana Heck

Tell us why you became a teacher

I loved school as a student (still love taking certain courses) and as I got older, I couldn't see myself working in any other environment. When I was a young child, I asked Santa for a chalkboard for Christmas and from there it began. I love the excitement kids experience when learning is fun. I enjoy creating experiences for learning by transforming the classroom into places they can't explore...the Arctic, prehistoric dinosaur times and hopefully soon we will make it to outer space!

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

There are many memories...science experiments, leprechaun traps, venturing to Mambo Jamba's (a fictional location in the jungle where all the animals go to dance) created by Julia Durango in her book Cha Cha Chimps ) & racing toy sailboats in the gigantic puddle on the playground. But the most memorable was a student who was nonverbal who was upset because I was trying to understand what he was communicating to me. Suddenly he yelled out "MAD!" We celebrated that first word. It was amazing!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would use part of it to set up a college investment fund for my grandbaby, part to pay off some remaining medical bills, and part of it to help with some repairs and improvements at our school that have been neglected due to budget restraints.