Stacey Anderson, Seneca Falls, NY

I grew up in Seneca Falls, a part of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. When I graduated from college, I moved to Atlanta for 20 years. I ended up right back where I started, in Seneca Falls, because I wanted my children to experience a childhood like mine. I was blessed to have been given a 5th grade position at the same school where my father was a principal many, many years before. This is my home. This is where I belong. This community needs me to be there for them. The bonds that I have created with my students, current and past, are unbreakable. We are a small, tight-knit family, who thrives on relationships. This recent distance learning period hasn’t broken those bonds. We “see” each other every weekday on Flipgrid and we Zoom a few times per week. I’ve delivered special treats to their houses….microwave popcorn to watch a movie with me on Zoom, or some candy with a funny pun on it, or surprising them with a birthday sign and some treats. I can’t let this school closing stop me from connecting to them and letting them know how much I care about them, so I’ve found little ways to be sure they know I care, even when they can’t see me in the classroom. Being in this amazing community with awesome people has allowed me to reach my students in a way that I may not have been able to do, had we been in school.