Linda Hart
Mrs. Hart is the most caring, passionate, faithful, inspiring, and understanding teacher I’ve ever had. She always knew if someone was having a rough day and helped them through it. She made all her students realize how blessed they were, and she reminded them to be thankful everyday. Along with laughing and joking with all her students, Mrs. Hart treated us all with respect and accepted us with open arms and a loving heart. My classmates and I walked into class smiling everyday because she made class enjoyable but challenging, preparing us for life beyond St. John the Beloved. Along with making fun memories, she showed us heartfelt stories that inspired us and stuck with us forever. Mrs. Hart is like an angel on earth; she positively impacts everyone she meets and is someone I desire to be just like.
Mrs. Hart accepted every student for who they were, even the challenging students who talked too much, never were with the class, didn’t always do their work or do well on tests and quizzes; she found the good in all of us. She pointed out our positive characteristics over our obvious negative ones, and used us as examples to challenge our classmates to be more like each other for areas where we were weak. Through being accepted and seeing how she accepted all my classmates, I believe Mrs.Hart made me a better person during every second I was in her presence. My classmates and I realized how important it was to accept each other and that made us all become an even closer family, and that’s all thanks to Mrs.Hart.
Through accepting us, she also showed her students how to properly treat other people. She asked us to never judge others, especially before knowing their story because you never know what people are going through. She told us stories of when she gave to the less fortunate and in addition to all the stories of good deeds she did, Mrs. Hart told us about times when she failed to do the right thing. To me, that takes courage to own up to your mistakes, share them with a whole class of students who look up to you, and learn from your mistakes and become an even better person, as she did everyday. She taught us that we were definitely going to make mistakes in our lives, but that it was perfectly okay to do so as long as were tried to learn from them. She opened our eyes so that we could notice that there was always positivity around us; sometimes you need a little negativity to realize how blessed you truly are.
  Almost everyday in religion class Mrs. Hart would read a passage to us and we would write our reflections in our journals. After our reflections we would say a prayer together as a class and then offer our intentions. Mrs. Hart would go first, and the way she spoke about the family members she prayed for showed the compassion she put into everything she did. After we prayed for her intentions, anyone else who had an intention would offer it up, and the whole class along with Mrs. Hart would pray. Mrs. Hart truly listened and cared about who we prayed for. She remembered who each person prayed for and would ask how their condition was days or even weeks later, showing that she kept everyone on her mind and in her heart throughout everyday. Her relationship with God influenced just about everything she did in her daily life, which is another reason for everyone to admire her as I do.
Those who get to have the experiences with Mrs. Hart like I had, are truly blessed. Mrs.Hart creates a classroom of love, acceptance, faith, and trust. Throughout the school year I had with her, she was my teacher, my inspiration, a role-model, and when I needed it, a second mother and even a friend. She opened my mind, my eyes, and my spirit through her ways of teaching. No-one ever felt alone because we knew we could always go to Mrs. Hart, and most likely we wouldn’t even need to because she’d come to us first as soon as she sensed something was off about us. My class and I learned from her everyday, but she somehow always learned something from us too. Mrs.Hart honestly played a big role in making me who I am today and I don’t think she even knows that because that wasn’t her goal, but she’s such an influential human being that it happened. She built up my confidence in every part of my life: my physical appearance, my capabilities with academics, who I am as a person, and my personality. She has left a permanent indent on my heart, and I will always strive to be more like her day-in and day-out. This doesn’t even begin to decipher why Mrs. Hart not only deserves to be Educator of the Year, but also a joyous life full of happiness, never ending appreciation, and so much more.