When I was selected to represent Clay County as the District Teacher of the Year several people told me, "You have a voice in education now, use it!" I thought, of course I have a voice, I use it every day to remind six year olds that glue sticks are not push pops!

I felt three inches tall as I walked into the Teacher of the Year Roundtable in July and kept asking myself, “What am I doing here?”  I was in the presence of rock stars. I was blown away by the abilities and accomplishments of the superhuman teachers in my cohort. I may have been the Hernando County Teacher of the Year, but felt unsure as to why I had been chosen.  I decided I had two choices at that point, slink back to my hole feeling inadequate or accept the challenge to rise up and continue to improve!

As a teacher and coach for over 37 years I have always been eager to learn and grow. Teaching elementary, middle and high school students has stretched my teaching skills, but did not compare to how I would grow as the 2017 Brevard Teacher of the Year. Becoming a member of the Florida Teacher Lead Network, FTLN, provided me an opportunity to learn strategies to mentor my colleagues and advance my teaching skill set.