To cast your vote for Ms. Salazar, click here.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A local teacher is in the running for America’s favorite teacher and your vote could help her take the title!
Right now, Lee Salazar, or "Ms. S.," is in the quarterfinals and she’s hoping to be voted into the semis.
One thing that sets Ms. S. apart from her competitors is where she teaches. She has been teaching and working with the special needs community for more than 20 years.
She’s in her first year teaching at the new Maverick Learning Center in Virginia Beach: a school for children on the autism spectrum. There, Salazar works with kindergarten-aged kids.
She works with each student according to their own needs, teaching everything from how to spell and say words and to how to work with money.
Recently, Salazar was nominated for Reader’s Digest’s America’s Favorite Teacher competition.
She’s gotten enough votes to make it into the top 1% of the competition, advancing to the quarterfinals. As far as she knows, she's the only local teacher still in the running.
Salazar told me she was surprised to find out she was even nominated. The support she's gotten from her students and parents since has been humbling.
“My biggest drive is to see what it is that I can help them to change and get better at, and then, I have someone that wants to give back to me," says Salazar. "It’s amazing. It’s a beautiful feeling... I’m just grateful and honored.”
Fellow teachers and staff members are hoping to see Ms. S. advance to the semis.
“We have her back... Everywhere we go, [we tell people] 'Vote for Ms. S.,'” said Maegan Cahoon, Maverick Learning Center's founder and director. "It’s been really fun to have something to look forward to every week and have that excitement every week. Is she gonna get in every Thursday?"
The quarterfinals end on May 16, so there's less than a week to vote and get Ms. S. to the semifinals.
The winner gets a $25,000 prize and a much-deserved trip to Hawaii.
To cast your vote, click here.
