Educator of the Year
Ms. Danielle Schneider



There comes a time in everyone’s life when they meet someone who really inspires them and leaves an impact on their life. Maybe it’s a teacher, or a principal, but for me, it’s my field hockey coach. Her name is Coach Schneider, but she usually just goes by Coach. Before she was inspiring my team and me, she was working on her own field hockey career. Coach has been playing field hockey since high school. After high school, she attended Catawba College where she continued to play the sport. Now, she coaches my team in the fall and plays on her own team in the off-seasons. To me, Coach has three qualities that set her apart from other coaches: her motivation, ability to multi-task, and humor.

Coach has more motivation than any person I’ve ever met. When I’m playing on the field, I can always hear her cheering and giving us help. Coach is always motivating us to do our best. For some coaches, it’s always about winning, and nothing else is important. I’ve even had a coach like that before. But, Coach wants us to try our best and that’s what is most important; if we win, too, well that’s a bonus.

Not many people can multi-task as well as Coach. By day, she’s a Spanish teacher, teaching almost 150 kids. By night, she’s a field hockey coach. During the fall, she teaches most of the day, then half an hour later she coaches us. After all that, she’s getting home around 5:30 everyday and grading assignments for hours. Most people would complain that they couldn’t handle it, but Coach never complains, just smiles.

Some coaches are serious all the time. After talking to Coach for the first time, I knew that wasn’t the case. Anyone who’s talked to her before would say she’s always cracking jokes. She knows when it’s time to be serious and when it’s time to have a laugh. She likes making us laugh, which is refreshing because I’ve had grumpy coaches before.

I’m looking forward to the next three seasons of field hockey because of Coach. She inspires me to do my best every time I step onto the field. I’d like to thank her for being a great coach and a great leader to everyone on the team. I know I’ll never have as good of a coach as Coach Schneider. She’s truly the best coach I’ve ever had, and that is why I am nominating her for the Educator of the Year award.