Kimberly Febbriello

Tell us why you became a teacher

I became a teacher because I knew that if I had to be away from my own children to work, then it had to be because I was making a positive difference for someone else.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

It’s so hard to remember just one, as there are honestly so many. That being said, I would have to say that it was when I was teaching kindergarten and I had a little girl who was a selective mute. For the whole year I never heard her speak to anyone. At the end of the year her mom came to me and told me that she wanted to read with me! The three of us went into an empty room together and she read out loud! It was the most incredible feeling I have ever felt!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I work in the inner city so every year I spend a great deal of my own money to provide supplies to my students, with the $25,000 I would be able to give new supplies and backpacks to the entire 5th grade for several years to come! I would also purchase new materials for both math and reading such as new workbooks, and manipulatives that the kids would be excited to use! This prize money would be a life changing gift for both my students and our grade level!