As a little girl, I always played school with my baby dolls, friends, siblings, and neighbors. If my friends or neighbors were not there, I would teach lessons to my dolls as I was doing my homework. I would role play that one of my dolls was a student. I was always looking out for that one student who stood out for one reason or another. I would make him/her my “Student of the Day.” As I got older, I began to see that my role playing was actually shaping my desire to be an advocate for children as well as a constant factor in their lives for the time period I would teach them.
I want all students to know that no matter what, I have a desire for them to learn and to succeed in life. I accept every student I teach and consider it my job to love them and nurture them because of who they are, not what they have. I want them to know I see them as something beautiful, and even though I am their teacher, I respect them as a person as well as a student. I was blessed with many teachers who invested in me as a person, and I want to have the same influence in a child’s life that my former teachers had on my life.
I have taught at Simpsonville Elementary for six years. I knew the moment I walked into this school that this was where I wanted to be. The faculty, staff, students and parents of Simpsonville Elementary make this school one of the best South Carolina has to offer. It is truly a joy and an honor to serve as the Teacher of the Year for Simpsonville Elementary School.