Cheree Bailey

Third-grade teacher at Round Rock ISD’s Canyon Creek Elementary
Alma mater: The University of Texas at Austin
What she bought: Student mailboxes, a reading center rug, an aquarium with fish, storage crates, a paper cutter, classroom décor and office supplies
What interested Cheree in teaching? “I love working with children,” she says. “I truly feel it is my calling. After working for three years in the insurance world, I know without a doubt that I’m now right where I belong.”

Freshman geography teacher at The Academy of Irving ISD
Alma mater: Baylor University
What she bought: Planet Earth DVD set, a DVD player, posters, inflatable globes, flags and books of folk stories
What surprised Olivia about her students? “After student teaching with seniors who were ‘too cool’ to speak in class,” she says, “it’s surprising how eager and willing to ask questions freshmen are.”

Olivia Kepler

S. Lynn Sovereign

Third-grade language arts and social studies teacher at Shady Brook Elementary in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD
Alma mater: Texas Woman’s University
What she bought: Books, bookshelves, workbooks, bulletin board items and a gerbil for a class pet
What interested Lynn in teaching? “I want to make a difference in other peoples’ lives,” she says. “I want the students I come in contact with to under-stand that an education will change your life, that everyone can go to college if they want to, and that they truly can achieve anything through hard work.”