Bambi Howe

Ms. Bambi Howe is so deserving of being honored in a special way! She has devoted her life and career to making sure the kids she teaches feel honored and special. She works hard in a low income school, where many of her students have faced trauma before the age of 5 and she strives to make her classroom a safe, loving place, where the students feel protected, loved and safe to just be kids and to learn. She is the perfect kindergarten teacher, as she has such an excitement and passion in her work, that it is hard to not become infected with excitement in learning and going to school. She reaches to continue to building her skills to best work with children of all backgrounds and challenges, and appears to have the biggest place in her heart reserved for those kiddos that need a little "extra" love, whether they are facing behavioral challenges, diagnoses that can challenge or change their learning style, and other issues, she makes it her priority to find the best way to meet them where they are, to implement different learning techniques and options, and to help teach and lead them in ways that succeed. Because of this drive and love, she is often given the joyous opportunity to work with those children in our school that are struggling the most. And when they walk out her classroom in a year's time, they are changed children. Confident in their worth, their abilities and in her love. In her 29 years of teaching, she has touched numerous hearts, and I can't begin to guess how many lives she has changed. She has a special way of making every child feel like her absolute favorite and most important person to her, at a delicate time/age when they need it the most. She is a leader in her school and district, and inspires her colleagues to become better, improving the school community as a whole. She garners outside support through fundraising to help meet the needs of her students that the district simply does not have funding for. She is truly one of those angels who woke up one day knowing it was her purpose to improve lives through being an excellent teacher, and then set off to far surpass her own dreams. Below is my daughter (her student's) words about why she deserves this award: "Ms. Bambi is the most smart, kind, loving, good teacher that I could ever imagine. I wish I never had to have another teacher in my whole life. She has taught us all so much and made us all so smart, but she also made us all love each other. She taught us how to be good citizens and make good choices and love people. And we love her. Every day in Ms. Bambi's class is like what I think Disneyland will be like; so fun and happy and exciting and with all the magical things. She makes me like to learn new things and she makes me want to be a special person like she is to me. She is beautiful on the outside but her most beautiful part of her is her heart and I love her so much. She is the best teacher in the universe. Please award my teacher for all her hard work."

Olivia Seybert