Tell us why you became a teacher

I've always been a teacher to my younger cousins. I started to get my elementary credential in college and began subbing to get experience and fell into special education by accident but fell in love with the first group of students I worked with (students with Autism). A gentleman I met at yard sale told me how he was run out of the educational system by a teacher that said he wouldn't be able to make it. He begged me never to give up on any student because of his experience. I try every day

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I worked with a student who had a bad middle school experience. He and his family had come to distrust the educational system. He was about a foot taller and at least 100 pounds heavier than me. The first day we met, he punched me in the nose. I wanted to hide and cry. We got to know each other and he came to trust me and he taught me so much about how a positive relationship with your students can keep them from flattening you on their hardest days. The family learned to trust me as well.

What would you do with the $25,000?

Reduce my debts, take some stress off because I'm the only income earner in my family (in California). I struggle to be strong and patient for my students when stresses from life weigh on me, but I do it everyday with patience and understanding because I'm the only credentialed teacher in a small rural town. For some students we are the only consistent thing in their lives that they cling to so I push myself to be there everyday with caring and understanding even though I'm struggling myself.