I'm a third-grade teacher at Genoa Central Elementary in Texarkana, and this year I was honored to be selected as one of 23 educators in the inaugural Arkansas Excellence in Teaching Fellowship program.

It still feels a little unreal because, for the first part of my life, no one would have looked at me and guessed I would grow up to be a teacher, let alone be considered among the strongest educators in our state.

After all, I didn't graduate from high school. Neither did my parents. No one around me talked about college or careers. And when you grow up like that, it's hard to imagine anything different. But I reached a point when I knew the cycle had to stop with me. I wanted more for my daughters. I wanted them to believe they were capable of anything. So, I went back to school.

People........

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