Nila Smith, Children’s Classic Child Care Center

“Since my husband and I both work during the day, we were worried about how we would handle logistics with my son started kindergarten. Thankfully, the daycare in your home had a full day kindergarten program which was taught by Nila. At first I was nervous about having my son in this program As opposed to a traditional kindergarten in an elementary school, but I have been so grateful that he was able to be a part of her class. Nila has become almost family. My son Jett struggles with ADHD and he recently lost his grandmother to cancer. Nila has been a source of comfort and hope to him throughout this tough year. The children in her class were all worried about having to wear masks during instruction, so Nila arranged to have matching ones made for the entire class, and she made sure each mask was personalized with the name of the child who would be wearing it. It meant so much to those kids, and my son still begs to wear it every day, even though I’ve got him plenty of others. Nila teaches her students about so much more than the required kindergarten curriculum. My 6 year old can name all of the presidents, in order! I can’t even do that! She also takes time to have class discussions about current events. During the 2020 election, my son was so excited to tell us about how they had had a class selection where they each got to vote, using ballots, for their favorite of a few types of candy. Being a teacher is tough and I’m so glad Jett has been blessed with Nila. We love her so much, that we are planning on having our daughters enroll in her kindergarten as well, even though we now have schedules that would allow us to take them elsewhere.”

Submitted by: Braquel Jackson

Submit your teaching hero! Click here to submit your teacher