“I am an elementary school teacher and teach  grade. I am ready for summer. It is liberating. I have been teaching for 30 years at Perdido and have a few more years to go. I always loved school as a student. When I graduated, I didn’t want to leave school or stop learning, so I became a teacher. Education is different now. We don’t have the freedom to do what we think our students need like we used to. The curriculum is spelled out for us. Overall the whole experience has been wonderful and where I am supposed to be. Society has changed and the kids have changed a little bit from that, but they are still kids who want to have fun and get away with all they can. When you look out in those faces, you have no idea what the kids have gone through the night before. By sixth grade, the abuse and pain have become normal to some of them and they don’t show it. These kids don’t have help and have to struggle on their own. Summer is for time with my daughters. Both of them are in college and keep myself available to have time with them every time they are available. As they get older, time with them is less and less and I cherish every moment I have with them.”