LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Stephanie Perkins was nominated anonymously.

As a very passionate teacher of each of her students, Ms. Perkins always starts the year by building strong relationships with each child. She likes to know their strengths, interests, and challenges so they can feel valued. She is very consistent with classroom expectations from the start and makes sure her class feels safe and confident.

Ms. Perkins takes pride, not only in setting the tone for her students, but in implementing positive reinforcement and numerous ways to create opportunities for students to collaborate and build a community in the classroom. Creating a positive classroom is very personal to her because, as a child, she was in foster care and then adopted. During that time, she struggled to adapt to her new environment. Her teacher then created such a safe, supportive space that it made all the difference to her, considering the trauma she had experienced previously to that. That has always stuck with her and is a big part of why she became a teacher.

She provides that same environment, if not more. She uses daily emotional check-in systems to connect with each of her students and let them know their feelings matter. She also has a teacher mailbox where her students can write notes to her to share any positive or negative feedback, or to connect more with her. Ultimately, providing such a positive and encouraging classroom is helping each of her students feel safe, seen, and capable of doing great things, no matter where they're starting from in life.

She is entering her third year as a second-grade teacher at a Title I school where many of her students are navigating difficult circumstances such as poverty, emotional trauma, and even broken homes. It has been a challenge to witness and hear so many stories of the hardships her students have faced, but it has also helped her love her job more. Her class is sometimes the only place they can escape and feel safe and seen. Because of that, she is committed to making her classroom a space where every child is seen, valued, and ready to learn.

In her three years of teaching, she has helped run various professional development sessions on "Social Emotional Check-Ins." She also does tutoring both inside and outside the school for any of her students who need it. She is also doing her best to provide all the support she can to each of her students.