Felipe Lemus

Connect Tell us why you became a teacher

I became a teacher because I had teachers that both inspired me and directed me towards the right path. I could have been another statistic of a failing minority. But, due to the support and guidance my teachers provided me with, I completed the course work to become a teacher. Thanks to my teachers, I live a much better life and I get to inspire children to follow their dreams.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

I started my teaching career as a kindergarten teacher. Five years later, I found myself teaching fourth grade. That was a huge jump and much more of a culture shock because I had 30 students and of those, 24 students couldn’t read, write, nor work simple arithmetics. That year was extremely hard because my students were so far behind on their basic academics. It pushed me to learn to be very strategic on how to better teach my students so they could learn at a faster speed. Many succeeded!!!

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would buy much needed physical education equipment for my PE sessions. I lead my school’s PE sessions for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. I have to be very creative with the activities I teach because we don’t have equipment to be able to teach the physical education lessons. This would buy a good set of PE equipment!