Mrs. Foxwell was hands down the best teacher I ever had.  It wasn’t just what she taught us that was so great, it was how she taught it.  Mrs. Foxwell was my Business Technology teacher from sixth grade until I graduated as an eighth grader. In such a short time, she made such a large impart on my life and the lives of the other students who took her class. Mrs. Foxwell taught us the most valuable life skills that you can have: actively listening, time management, organization, teamwork skills, respect and so much more that wasn’t even a part of the curriculum; she really went over and beyond in teaching us.
She prepared us for the rest of lives in ways no other teacher had done before. In sixth grade, we worked on the basics of each category.  We would work on our typing skills almost every day, and I can tell you, it really paid off. She had us do a countless amount of activities for each category, and while we were probably complaining back then, I couldn’t be more grateful now.  In seventh grade, we had to do the dreadful Business Plan. We had to pretend to be entrepreneurs and create and run our own business. We made a 25-page business plan, including everything that would be needed if it were a real business plan. After creating those, we had to participate in a Business Marketing Event where we all had a job. We were all dressed up and parents and the administrative staff came to see us give a presentation. From this event, we learned how to confidently speak to others and show pride in our work as well as learning about how businesses are created.  Then, in eighth grade, my favorite year for Business Technology, we had mock interviews to prepare us for upcoming high school interviews and for future job interviews. She asked us the toughest questions, and we would have to think of an answer on the spot with a confident style. If she even saw you twitch your foot out of nervousness, she would call you out on it. This may make her sound like such a harsh teacher, but really she was just demanding that we give her the respect that she truly deserved.
Mrs. Foxwell didn’t just teach us these skills, she lived by them. Whenever you talked to her, she would stop whatever it was she was doing to give you her full attention. When you saw her in the hallway, her face would just about light up and she would say, “Happy Tuesday” because she found a reason to celebrate every day. Another one of her sayings was, “Just do it” like Nike, but this really shows her determination to get things done.
Before Mrs. Foxwell became a teacher, she was positioned very highly in the chain of command at a large corporation and had a lot of experience in the business-world to share with all of us. When she shared all of her stories with us, it really showed us how these lessons would apply to our lives in the future. Besides all of her work-related stories she had a lot of personal interactions where all of these lessons could be of value. Sure, I enjoyed learning about science or social studies in school, but those subjects only apply to certain areas of our lives, whereas the skills that I learned in Mrs. Foxwell’s Business Technology class will be valuable to me every day.
By the end of my eighth grade year I was crying that I had to leave her class and basically begged her to come to high school with me.  Mrs. Foxwell wasn’t just an ordinary teacher who taught us the curriculum; she went over and beyond to be like a second mom to all of us, she was our teacher, our therapist, and most importantly, she was everyone’s friend. Even now, when I visit my old middle school, I make sure to visit her class and see all of the new students she has and try not to get jealous that I’m not one of them. I think back to all the important life skills that she has taught me in the past couple of years and I feel nothing but gratitude in my heart for the teacher that has made the biggest impact in my life, that’s why she’s my nomination for the Educator of the Year Award.