- Education isn't just a place for kids to come, and read and write, it's a place for society to change.

My name is Heather Reich, I teach sixth graders at Majestic Elementary, and I love my job.

- So Heather, (laughing) she's just a dynamic teacher.

She is loyal to the students in the school community of Majestic, she is loyal to Jordan School District, and she is a loyal friend.

- I always wanted to be a teacher, and I guarantee you've heard that dozens of times from the winners of this award, because that's like who we are, it's not just a job that we do, it's part of who we are as people.

- She is always advocating for her students, she always wants to make sure that they have what they need.

- I didn't realize this when I became a teacher, I thought I was gonna just teach kids, which is awesome and I love it, but there's also a lot of social justice work that we do.

- She works in a highly impacted Title I school, and she is constantly reminding people that the needs of her school are a bit different than some of our other schools in the district.

- Our school was in danger of closing a few years ago, but because of how special we are and how important we are to the families here, it was paramount that we stay open.

- All of the Majestic students were slated to go to a school nearby.

- Most of our families walk from where they come from, and being just that much farther makes it that much harder to participate in education.

- And it's more than just efficiencies, it is about the people, about the kids, about the families.

- So I went to all the board meetings to let them know why we're such an amazing school.

- Heather knew that the parents of Majestic would be concerned about this change, and they were there and their voice was heard because of Heather.

- A lot of them talked about the teachers at the school, and how they really felt like they loved their kids.

- And due to those efforts they decided to keep Majestic open.

- I refused to let those families feel like nobody cared, because it's just not true.

And I'm super excited for my kids, that they that if you do speak up, then you can have the opportunity to change things.

You'll see my kids doing hard things, but not realizing how hard they are, and being happy about it.

- I know every year she reads Shakespeare with her classes.

These kids who you may not think would be able to understand the text are able to understand.

- So what if English is their second language, they can still read Shakespeare, we'll just break it down and work together and then they'll understand it.

But I'm not ever going to give them the easy way out, I'm always gonna give them challenging material and push them to get to that level.

And just knowing that they know something they didn't know before is cool for me, but it's life changing for them.

- The number of students who send her high school graduation announcements, college graduation announcements, wedding announcements, she gets those every year from her former students, and I think that says a lot about the impact of a teacher is that six, eight, 10 years later, students are sharing their life successes with her.

- And sometimes I sit back, and I think, "I cannot believe they pay me to do this."

I hope that when you walk in my room, you get the vibe that we're a family, and you'll see us laughing, but you'll also see us accomplishing big stuff.

(bright music)