Every weekday at 2 p.m., students, teachers and staff at Capital City Charter School in D.C. sit down to vote for one of their own to be “America’s Favorite Teacher.”
Jessica Williams, a sixth grade special education teacher at the school, said she was thrilled to get past the first several rounds and into the quarterfinals.
“It’s been really humbling,” Williams said. “Some days, you don’t know if you’re really making a difference, but then when you get all this love and support from across the country, and you see kids or young people that you’ve made an impact on almost 10 years ago giving money and supporting you and providing affirmations. It’s amazing.”
The contest is promoted by Bill Nye the Science Guy. The winner gets $25,000, a trip to Hawaii, a school assembly with Nye, and a feature in Reader’s Digest.
If she wins the money, Williams said she will use it to help fund two educational projects she’s passionate about.
“Money from the winnings would be used to fund research for a book I’m currently writing on the brain science used when building relationships in the classroom with examples from students I’ve taught,” Williams wrote in her application. “Additionally, portions of the earnings would be used to start a female empowerment organization for secondary age girls that embraces social emotional learning, college, future preparedness, and community service.”
Anyone can vote once per day for free on the “America’s Favorite Teacher” website. Additional votes can be made with donations to the Planetary Society.
Those interested in voting can find her page and story here.
Voting for the quarterfinals ends Thursday at 7 p.m.
Williams told WTOP she’s incredibly grateful for the support she’s received over the past four months of the competition. Those rallying behind her have kept up the voting to get her through to the quarterfinals.
“We’re on spring break right now, but every day since January, at 2 p.m. my students vote, my colleagues vote, people in the community vote,” Williams said. “So it’s just been really beautiful to be the reason that people are coming together and uplifting something that they appreciate about you.”
She has been teaching for almost 10 years and told WTOP the connections she has made with her students is her motivation.
Williams said that she thinks the competition is a wonderful opportunity to recognize teachers and their work to support students.
“It’s a great time to uplift teachers, and I’m really excited,” Williams said. “It’s great that it’s a competition where people are recognizing all of the blood, sweat and tears that go into teaching.”
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