How did you decide to go into the education field? 

I was born curious and have kept the desire to learn burning strong throughout my educational journey. Educators I have had along the way have impacted members of my family and I greatly. It is my responsibility to stay current on best practices to continually impact the youth that I serve each year. The words I choose to say and the way I choose to respond to behaviors in my room help shape the way students grow up and become contributing members of the community, and to me - that’s pretty significant. 

How has school funding made a difference in your classroom? 

EBF funding has allowed my district to add instructional coaches. Coaching has led to more intentional time serving and impacting students. Establishing a strong core, distinguishing specific gaps, and how to intervene continues to be our goal to help those students most in need. We have been able to utilize funds for teachers to receive their ESL endorsement. Having an ESL endorsement provides educators with strategies to support ALL students. Our district has used funds to implement systems into core learning, like Leader in Me, as well as connected our district to resources to create a framework to be a trauma-informed school. Federal relief funds have been a lifeline to our schools and communities and are being used to help address the immediate impacts of, and recovery from, the pandemic in our districts and state as we build and provide early intervention identifying those at risk. 

What resources and supports can further benefit your classroom/school/community? 

Increasing our annual appropriation of new funds will accelerate our pathway to adequate and equitable funding in Illinois and allow hundreds of thousands more students to benefit from attending fully funded schools. Our district has a large number of students returning to the community. Let us set them up with a solid educational foundation that would allow them even more opportunities to advance and give back to our community. 

Who/What inspires you? Why? 

My mother influenced me by modeling selfless acts throughout my life. She taught me to empathize and understand that each individual sees the situations in our lives through our own lenses and will respond differently based upon previous events or our perceptions of those events. My mother taught me to be kind, no matter what! Individuals who intentionally strive to see through various lenses and communicate ideas on how to move us forward as a group continue to inspire me daily. 

What accomplishment fills you with pride so far this year? 

This year our Student Assistance Team has worked together to build a school-wide model for addressing students’ individual needs. Our focus has been to create questions utilizing data/evidence to have more of a collaborative approach where “every child deserves a team” to surround them with supports that recognize their strengths and challenges as well as problem solve for best solutions to improve current performance. We intentionally have built these into layering our collaboration with general education planning and school support personnel on a regular basis. We are putting primary focus on supporting classroom practice when we tier the supports. It has been a lengthy process, but we are confident that taking the time to develop it will help serving students in our building. 

If you could pass on any wisdom to your students, what would you share? 

Every opportunity is an opportunity to grow - engage in them to discover what brings you joy and create goals to move you in a positive direction. 

What is your favorite movie/book? 

I am obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, honestly could watch My Fair Lady again, and again, and again.