Jenelle Bauer

Tell us why you became a teacher

My Mom used to work for the state in a number of groups homes with people with disabilities. We used to go to outings with her and I loved as a young kid interacting with them. I knew from when I was five I wanted to teach. I wanted to be able to find different ways to get people of all ages and abilities interested in learning.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I was working in a class with non-verbal students. We had been working on sorting and had just come back from a community outing, one of my students had purchased skittles. She began pushing them into color groups and then passed one to each of her friends at the table, completely unprompted. It was such an exciting moment when she used a skill we had been working on independently and was sharing and communicating with her classmates.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would pay off the remaining of my school loans and work on improving our school garden areas purchasing flowers and other plants.