Educator of the Year
 

Sixth grade was my favorite year. A lot of my peers were nervous about going into middle school, but I wasn’t. I felt like I had outgrown my elementary school and I needed to move on! I couldn’t wait to learn different material from different teachers. Because English is not my first language, I always felt like I had to try harder and prove myself. All throughout elementary school, my favorite subject had been Social Studies. I always knew it would be like that. I never thought I could love it more until I had Ms. Schimenz as a Social Studies teacher in the sixth grade.
The first day of my Social Studies class was probably my favorite day of all of my middle school years. Walking into the classroom, I felt happy. There were posters all over the wall and even on the ceiling! Ms.Schimenz was standing in the middle of the classroom. She had white hair, which always reminded me of the fairy godmother in Cinderella. She wore cute sweaters that always had jewelry to match. She was shorter than all of us and I thought she was the cutest thing in the world!
My favorite thing about Mrs. Schimenz was that she fed off of our energy. Just like we were excited to learn, she was excited to teach. She had a good sense of humor and made sure we weren’t serious all the time. She made sure she had one on one time with all of the students to make sure they were on the right track or to help them with anything they needed. She made us feel smart, and trust me, it’s hard to do that with obnoxious sixth graders who couldn’t wait for lunch time. She believed in all of us and I think that’s why we started believing in ourselves.
Her teaching methods were my favorite. She had activities with everything she did, and projects that helped us understand the concept. There was a government unit that she taught every year, during this unit she said to me, “Government is boring to a lot of people, I don’t know how this is going to go.” Learning about the government was more interesting that I would’ve thought. After every unit, we did something fun like a project or play a game. She made sure everyone participated. She was so worried we wouldn’t like what she had planned, but it turned out to be one of our favorite units that we still mention to this day.  
During that school year Ms. Schimenz lost someone really close to her- her mother. We all expected her to be gone for a long time We understood she needed time to deal with everything. But when she came back to school the week after, everyone was stunned. Everyone but me. Ms. Schimenz was so determined to teach us and to help us grow that even in her toughest moments, she was with us. In a way, I think we helped her through it.
  If Mrs. Schimenz has taught me anything, it’s that you have to do what makes you happy. She stopped being my teacher six years ago, but she never stopped being my friend. Mrs.Schimenz is energetic, entertaining and efficient. We still talk to this day, I email her and she gives me advice on my future and asks me what I want to do.
Ms. Christine Schimenz was more than my teacher, she was my friend. I don’t think she knows the impact she has had on me and how she changed the way I look at everything. I knew I loved Social Studies, but I never knew how much until I had Ms. Schimenz for a teacher. She’s a great person, a great teacher and mentor. That is why I chose her for educator of the year.