Ms. Lacey, a 7th grade math and science teacher at Rio Calaveras, is someone I consider to have affected my life in a positive way. As a student at Rio, I was continuously flooded with so much that was running through my brain from day to day. Deadlines for many projects were stressing me and being a teenager was difficult for me all alone. Ms. Lacey was that one teacher who helped make my 7th grade year much easier.

           Ms. Lacey was the type of teacher who would challenge me. She would always expect a lot from me because, in her opinion, I was a good student. If I turned in work she assigned and she knew it wasn’t my best work, she’d give it back telling me I could do better. I remember on Thursdays, she would give us math tasks. They weren’t very difficult, but they did require me to show a lot of work. Sometimes I would tell her I didn’t want to even try anymore because I was so overwhelmed with the work. She’d simply ask what I needed help with and she’d give me a brief explanation. Either she’d always make everything sound so easy or I was just overly dramatic. One of my friends told me “I loved her as a teacher. She was good at explaining anything when I needed help.”

           Ms. Lacey knew a lot of what she was instructing. She would always explain the lesson in a fun way. She would use all kinds of teaching techniques, like showing us a video or having a demonstration, to get us interested in the lesson. The videos we viewed were made by CrashCourse and were sometimes humorous. She also tested different science theories so we can determine if they were a theory or not. They were always interesting to see because they sometimes involved sort of dangerous materials that we weren’t allowed to touch or get near to. My brother, who has also had her as a teacher, said “I like Ms. Lacey. She’s a super fun teacher. She pretty much made learning and going to school fun for me.”

           Not only was Ms. Lacey a great educator, but also a great person to look up to. She was a very healthy person with a great attitude. She’d always go around cracking jokes with students and teachers. You’d always see her walking around with her water bottle full of Chia seeds at the bottom or a Tupperware with grapes and watermelon. Yeah, sometimes she’d have her days when she’d be in a bad mood or had an attitude but what woman doesn’t? “I remember one time I was playing a one on one with a student and I got in trouble for dunking on him” my younger brother once told me.

She was always looking on the bright side of bad situations and always had a positive mindset. She would never bring me or anyone down or make me feel less of a person. If she noticed I wasn’t my usual happy, chatty self, she’d cheer me up with one of her funny childhood stories. One of my friends that had her with me said “I remember she always had a smile on her face. She was always smiling so hard you could barely see her eyes. There was no way someone like her would ever bring you down.”