Mrs. Nealon is the main teacher from middle school who stands out to me. She was my homeroom, homebase, history, and Bible teacher for eighth grade at The Christian Academy. She made sure that her students did not just think of her as a teacher, but also as a friend. Not only was she sweet and caring, she was hilarious and never failed to make us laugh. Mrs. Nealon is an amazing teacher and mentor, as well as a great role model, and I aspire to be like her.
She would always go out of her way to make sure that her students understood the lesson. She’d make up games and activities for us to do that would go further into explaining the topic we were learning. We used to have spelling and vocabulary tests every Friday, so on Thursday we would play a fun review game that helped learn the words; the winner would get candy, which helped motivate us.
In middle school at The Christian Academy, there were two homeroom classes per grade. Each class had its own color; mine was the orange team. Each homeroom would compete against the others every marking period for the best average in spelling, vocabulary, maps, and speed drills. Out of the six teams, orange won all four marking periods. As prizes we got pizza parties, not just because my classmates were all hard-working and smart, but because Mrs. Nealon was amazing at preparing us for every test.
She was different from every other teacher I’ve had because she was undeniably funny. Anyone who had her as a teacher could vouch for that. My classmates and I would refer to her as “sass queen,” “the fiercest,” and “savage.” She never failed to make us laugh with her crazy stories and made-up words.
One of my favorite things she did was the phobia of the day. She would write a phobia name on the board and have us guess what it was the fear of, and whoever guessed right got candy. There was a kid in my class who seemed to speak at least a million words a day; Mrs. Nealon always had a funny comeback to whatever he complained about, and it would have the rest of the class in stitches.
During my time in her class, Mrs. Nealon proved herself to be one of the kindest most caring people I’ve ever met. She treated her students as if we were her children. Every day she would take prayer requests and spend at least five minutes praying for whatever was going on in our lives; I don’t know about my classmates, but that made me feel like someone cared about me and the troubles I was going through. Also, during Christmas break, she got a calendar that on each day had a country name and what their problems were; every morning she would spend a few minutes praying for a different country.
While I was in her class, she shared a story with us about her son. When she was pregnant with him, she got shingles, and that eventually led to her getting Bell’s Palsy in the right side of her face. She had two options; she could take medicine for it, but her son might end up with a birth defect. Or she could not take the medicine and her son would be fine, but she would lose feeling in the right side of her face. She chose the latter. Hearing this story made me admire her even more for her bravery and selflessness.
Mrs. Nealon taught me so much – and not just about the subjects she taught. For example, that praying for someone can really help. Also, that sometimes you have to laugh at yourself and the mistakes you make. She deserves this award because throughout the year, she demonstrated her ability as a great educator, a comedian, and a caring person. I will always remember Mrs. Nealon as an amazing role model who would be the perfect Educator of the Year.