First job as an educator: “I have been an educator for 17 years. I am originally from North Dakota. I, along with my husband, started teaching in 1995.

Arrival in Nevada: “I arrived here in the fall of 1997. We were at Mt. Charleston Elementary School and when Mt. Charleston closed, we came to Floyd Elementary. I say ‘we’ because my husband is a teacher here, too. This will be our second year here at Floyd.”

Motivation for becoming an educator: “I love to work with children because they are fun, they are entertaining. They are just lively and I really enjoy that. They are inspiring. It’s exciting to come to work every day. I love to grow. You start out your school year and you have these little babies that come into first grade. You can see them just expanding and growing and they just learn so much throughout the year. It’s fun to see that.”

Pearls of wisdom for students: “Study hard and always do your homework. Learn as much as you can and stay in school because education is very important to your life. Never ever get discouraged about your abilities and most of all have fun.”

Toughest challenges facing teachers: “The lack of funding of our educational system has caused cutbacks and we have all felt that pain. Class sizes have gotten a lot larger over past several years. A lot of times when you put so many kids together, you don’t get to get that individual attention for the kids that really need it and it is very sad to see that happen. Hopefully we will see that change.”

Advice for individuals wanting to pursue a career in education: “Do it because it is a very rewarding career. We need you. We need good people to get into education. Our kids need good educators. And again teaching is a very rewarding job.”

Leisure time: “I have two sons and they both go to school here at Floyd Elementary. My husband teaches here at Floyd Elementary so we are kind of a Bobcat family. Our boys are into sports. They play soccer, baseball and basketball and we love to go camping and just relax with a lot of family time.”