RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – Few would dispute, being a teacher is one of the toughest jobs out there.
There’s not a great deal of pay, the hours are long, the challenges great.
But that didn’t stop Lesly Diaz Perez from going into the profession. She’s currently a substitute at Rita Cannan Elementary.
And for now, she works with special needs kids.
“I’ve never thought I’d do SPED right now,” says Diaz Perez. “It’s a really cool experience. I think a lot of people have this stigma of what special education is or working with children with autism. I love it. I think those students are the sweetest boys I’ve ever met in my life. They are so smart. It is really an opportunity that will make me a more well-rounded educator.”
When she is not in the classroom at Rita Cannan Elementary, she’s also got a soccer team here she coaches. Encouraging the kids, especially the girls on the co-ed team that they belong out on this field–just as much as the boys.
Spend some time with Diaz Perez, there’s no question why she was last year’s Guinn Memorial Scholarship recipient.
The scholarship named after Governor Kenny Guinn hands out four $5,000 dollar scholarships to students who are in their last year of college–that’s two in the north and two in the southern part of Nevada.
The students have declared their major in elementary or secondary education.
State Treasurer Zach Conine says recipients must fill out forms which include an essay.
He believes those chosen for the annual scholarship stand out because of their commitment to teaching kids.
“We are reading all the time all sorts of different things,” says Conine about the State Treasurer’s Office. “And what we’ve found that when someone’s application speaks to something that drives them personally, like there is a reason they want to be a teacher. It’s not the next step, but it is something that defines them, who they are as a person.”
Diaz-Perez says she was encouraged to apply for the scholarship.
No one was more surprised than she was when the committee selected her.
“I’m just another college kid,” says Diaz Perez. “I just want to be a PE teacher you know, no big deal. And so, it felt really nice to know that somewhere in all that stuff I submitted, my application my essay, just everything that I’ve done my portfolio essentially over the years, that it stuck out to them and meant something to them. They saw that I deserve that award.”
For more information go to: https://www.nevadatreasurer.gov/KCGMS/KCGMS_Home/
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