Nereyda Gonzalez

Tell us why you became a teacher

As a parent, I knew that I was my child’s first teacher, and I wanted to pass on what I learned, but in a school setting with students who needed structure and balance and love. I started working at the school as a paraprofessional 11 years ago and now I am the school secretary.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most memorable teaching experience has to be a recent interaction I had with one of our students who is having a difficult home situation and we were having a hard time connecting I recently attended a conference called, capturing kids hearts where I learned a lot of great tools and upon returning, I applied those tools and resources immediately specifically with the student and within those 15 minutes of interacting with him, I had him eating lunch with me and we began building a bond.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would bring the capturing kid’s hearts program to our school to teach all of our staff from teachers to custodians to cafeteria staff, and everybody in our building the importance of looking within ourselves to help students grow into their full potential. The oldest student in our building is nine years old and sometimes, as adults, we can forget that.