LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Paula Franklin was nominated by her boyfriend, Jonathon Marshall.

Ms. Franklin has been with Galveston ISD for over five years. During that time, she has worked extremely hard with special education teachers and students. She maintains high ethics and morale and shows great leadership with her peers. She has revamped the Special Olympics team in her district, growing the program from 1 coach and 5 athletes, to 5 coaches and 30 athletes!

Ms. Franklin, with the help of her family and boyfriend, spends many hours making snacks for competitions,washing uniforms, ironing shirts, and preparing paperwork. Even when the weather reaches 100+ degrees at track meets, she can be found chasing students around and getting them excited.

Besides working 50+ hours each week at the district level supporting all SPED teachers, she also works on the weekends, either making her Special Olympics team even better, or making things for classrooms. She has applied for grants to get items for her team and makes it a positive experience to be in special education. Ms. Franklin spends hundreds of dollars each year to provide extras for her teachers.

"Paula changes her kiddos' lives every day by helping them get out there and work on their skills for track, tennis, basketball," said Marshall. "She also encourages the staff to try new things and offers to make them or provide them. She holds numerous field trips, art days, and classroom visits, just to help out. Paula's always on a new adventure. She is awesome, and everyone else should know that too."