This year’s Teacher of the Year is Monica Carrol. She has been a teacher at Mill Creek for 18 years. Carrol explained that her favorite thing about the school was, “I just love the students. I enjoy that in general, and most of the kids are really respectful to one another, and towards me, so I feel really lucky that I have that.”
Some of Carrol’s hobbies outside of school are singing, reading, biking, and boating.
She is originally from California, she stated, “Almost every summer I go to Mount Shasta to visit my family. We go boating on Lake Shasta and hiking everywhere. My two oldest kids live in Colorado, so I go there to hike and hang out outdoors too. I love summer, the beach, and the mountains.”
Carrol’s college life took a turn that she did not expect, she said, “My undergrad is actually in Psychology and originally my first plan was to be a therapist.” She gets her passion and grit to teach everyday from her students, and her own children. She said, “I started teaching at Mill Creek when my daughter was a 9th grader, and I plan on teaching at least until my 8th grader graduates. It has been great to know the teachers of my kids and to be here with them. We have amazing teachers here at Mill Creek and I love that I have been able to see their work through the eyes of a parent and colleague.”
When Ms. Carrol explained on about her time here, she stated, “I have taught almost every subject – reading, writing, math and science, but I prefer math because the answers are almost always cut and dry and there is little ambiguity or subjectiveness in the grading process. I enjoy teaching math in creative ways that help kids that usually struggle with math to visualize the concepts and connect them to real world situations. One of the really cool things about my position as a Special Education teacher is that I have a caseload of kids that I work with all the way through their high school years. It is so amazing to see the progress and growth that happens in 4 years and to foster those relationships for that long. Sometimes I even get to teach those kids and get to know them in the classroom too.”
