One day, one of my friends, a person I love most in the world, hurt my feelings. She bothered me and pushed my boundaries until I snapped. When I snapped, I hit her on the head with a piece of paper whilst shouting at her that she should not have upset me, and I only stopped when she started crying. Immediately after, a sudden pang of guilt and fear ran through me. Why had I done that? What was going to happen next? Was I in trouble? The next thing I knew Carissa, my teacher, pulled me out of the classroom and asked me what had happened. She asked me why I had done that. And asked me what my friend had done to me to elicit a response like that. I remember having to do a double take, was she asking me what happened? Did she think I was the bad guy? She was considering my feelings. For the first time, I felt like I was able to explain myself before I received punishment. I felt so respected and so much like a real person with real feelings, feelings that with some teachers, are hard to come by.

Lots of things make Carissa a great educator not just to me but to others too. The one thing that makes her such a good person is that she is not just a teacher. She is super supportive of anything we want to do, even when it is not school-related. She makes our work fun. She takes the time to understand each student. She helps us understand things in general and she knows the best ways to help and communicate with us depending on our needs. I feel like I can tell her anything and she won’t judge or punish me. This school year has been a rocky road for me as I discover myself through my education, but Carissa has been there. She has shown up every week and asked me how I am doing and what she can do to help me. This makes such a big difference in my day-to-day life and I am thriving because I know I have her support. All of these things make her good at her job because we respect her as a person and an educator. She even makes time during class to make jokes and talk to each other!

I am nominating Carissa Solomon for Educator of the Year because she is. She has gone above and beyond a typical educator role and makes everyone feel important and valued. She dances and sings around the classroom, and invites students to speak their minds and share their thoughts. She makes you feel like you matter, your thoughts matter, and you can do anything! She believes that you are stronger than any challenge you might come across. She deserves this more than anyone I know, and I hope my writing is enough to give it to her.