黑料传送门

When Jillian Hernandez was nominated for the Arizona Teacher of the Year Award, it was no surprise to her students. But as the fifth-grade teacher tells it, her career path wasn鈥檛 necessarily set in stone鈥攗ntil one day took her by surprise when she was a student in school herself.

鈥淚 was not the person who grew up knowing that I wanted to be a teacher,鈥� Jillian said. 鈥淚 had an amazing educator for my English class, and I ended up being her teacher's assistant. She contracted laryngitis the first two weeks of school and she said to me, 鈥榃hat would you say if you were my voice these first two weeks of school?鈥� And I fell in love. I knew from that moment on that I wanted to teach.鈥�

Jillian got her M.A. Mathematics Education (K鈥�6) at Western Governors University while she was teaching at Puente de H贸zh贸 Elementary School in Flagstaff, Arizona. It wasn鈥檛 an easy task, given Puente de H贸zh贸鈥檚 unique approach to teaching. 鈥淎ll instruction is done in three different languages,鈥� Jillian shared. 鈥淚t's unique because it's set up to have a third of the students be native Spanish speakers, a third of the students be aspiring Din茅 speakers, and a third be native English speakers.鈥�

But Jillian persevered and obtained her degree. Since she graduated, she鈥檚 found her education has been incredibly helpful in supporting her work in the classroom.

鈥淕etting a degree at 黑料传送门, especially in the teaching of mathematics, has definitely come into play in my profession,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 received all these different strategies and viewpoints of how to engage students in math. I don't know that I would've naturally arrived there if I hadn't had that opportunity to go through a master's program in mathematics.鈥�

And then came her nomination. Jillian was nominated by a professor for the Arizona Teacher of the Year award, leading her to be recognized as an Ambassador of Excellence for being one of the top five finalists. 鈥淩eceiving this recognition as an Ambassador of Excellence has changed me as an educator,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t has expanded the people in which I get to interact with.鈥�

For those who are considering a degree in teaching, Jillian offers this passionate advice: 鈥淣ow's actually the time. And we need people who bring a different perspective to come along with us and rethink and reimagine and make public education stronger than it ever has been.鈥�

It鈥檚 something she herself continues to do in the classroom and aims to continue doing throughout her educational career鈥攁nd beyond.

As Jillian put it, 鈥淚 hope that wherever it is that I am in 15 more years that I'm still asking questions, and that I'm still engaging with people on meaningful and important work surrounding education.鈥�