Gwen S.

I am nominating Gwen Struble because of her tremendous gifts & abilities as a teacher. The students in her class learn what it means to care for others with special needs as they spend one morning a week for about an hour in the special needs room interacting with the kids. Her passion is in children's literacy. She exposes these little children to some magical books (all with a deep meaning and many life connections) and turns them into lifelong readers & critical thinkers. Every year her classroom has a theme. When my daughter was in her class, the theme was HOPE. Every morning the kids in the class would get up and share their stories of "Hope" as only 1st graders can. Gwen inspired my daughter to look beyond herself and to offer help to others less fortunate so that they can "have hope". I told her many times that she truly has a gift unlike any other. I HOPE that you think about choosing Gwen Struble as the winner because she is the essence of what teaching is all about. She completely deserves it.

Signed,
Nikki Slaugh