Teacher of the Week: Ms. Padavana, Auburn High School

Congratulations to Ms. Padavana from Auburn High School. She is 97ZOK's Teacher of the Week.

Steve Shannon visited Ms. Padavana and delivered goodies from Sugar Jones and beautiful flowers from Broadway Florist.

Ms. Padavana was named Teacher of the Week thanks to a nomination from Eunice Adjekum. Eunice tells us:

Ms. P is the coolest and nicest teacher.  She did something that I will never forget.  We were taking a test and it was mostly all multiple choice but the short answer was all math.
Back story time me and math have a complicated relationship. When I was younger I used to love math and math loved me and I was good at it and it made me feel good when I understood it. Then going through the academy things got harder quickly. I started falling behind more and more. I went from A's and B's to D's, (if I was lucky) but mostly F's. Math kept me up most nights and left me with no other time for my other classes. So I started falling behind in all my classes. I went and got a private tutor and I also went to tutoring daily after school. It seems I couldn't get better. The tutoring helped for that day but then the next day we learned something completely different and I just couldn't keep up. My parents were mad and threatening to take me out of the only school that I've known. The only place that I've made friends. So I started crying myself to sleep at night and having breakdowns.
~~Now I'm a sophomore taking 4 AP's and advanced classes since I'm still in the academy and it's still overwhelming.  Back to the story at hand, we were taking an APES test (Advanced Placement Environmental Science) and I understood most of the multiple choice but then the short answer came and I attempted it but then got so frustrated I scribbled out my answer and wrote that I was too stupid to do math, turned my test in and sat down and cried. I usually do this a lot in most classes for most tests but I've never done it in Ms. P's class. She went through the tests just to sort them out then she found mine. She called me to her then took me outside and she could see that I was crying and she told me she believed in me and that it was going to be okay then she took me back inside and sat with me at a table near the door and showed me step by step how to do the short answer.

I know this isn't much to you or anyone but for me this is the greatest thing a teacher, or anyone has ever done for me.

She even checks in on me sometimes to see how I'm doing and if I'm okay.

It just feels nice to have someone believe in me and have confidence.

Anyway thanks for reading this, I hope Ms. P gets teacher of the week because she deserves it. It's not like I'm the only student she checks in on she also does it for my friend Emily. Ms. P didn't have to be a teacher, she's a battalion commander in the army and she's a single mom. She could've done other jobs or just stayed in the army but she became a teacher to make a difference. I'm glad she did because she made a difference in my life and it helps. :)

The school year is almost over, and you are running out of time to tell us why your teacher should win next!