Bebe Bond • Cardinal Valley Elementary School, Performing Arts

"It's about trust first. Once that is established, I can share the disciplines I love with my kids and help them to discover things about themselves and others. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. I believe that through the performing arts my job is to challenge students to EXAMINE life."

Rachel Cronin • Booker T. Washington Academy, 5th Grade

"I believe that it is so important to establish good relationships with your students because it builds a positive learning climate. In a positive learning climate there is such a high level of trust, and all the participants in my classroom (including myself) are growing and learning together. I also feel that my role as an educator is to create life-long learners. I want my students to constantly ask questions and use problem solving strategies for the rest of their lives. Learning never stops, and I think it is important to teach that to students."

Pat Hale • Henry Clay High School, 9th Grade English

"For the past 31 years, I have begun with a plan for educating my students and a fresh, clean slate. But each year presents new faces, new challenges, new frustrations, and I meander down paths I didn’t anticipate. It’s always an adventure that my students and I travel together. I liken the year to a crazy quilt: It’s of many pieces, some beautiful, some ordinary, some very irregular, but in the end we have this amazing fabric. Each quilt is different and somehow it all comes together. It’s the saga of teaching teenagers."

Juliet Hardesty • Glendover Elementary School, 1st Grade

"As an educator I strive to develop individuality in a safe and stimulating environment where students attain academic and behavioral success. Through our diversities, we all learn from one another and respect that knowledge can be continually gained. Education is equipping students with a valued worth of oneself and to society."

Vickie Nelson • Southern Middle School, 7th Grade Integrated Math and Algebra 1

"To my students: If I give you a fish, you’ll eat for a day. Instead, let me teach you to fish, and you’ll eat for a lifetime! I know most of them would rather have pizza or chicken nuggets, but I hope they get my gist!"