Name: Amy Walsh.

School grade, years teaching: Kindergarten for 19 years in Serena. This is my 21st year as a teacher.

Family: My husband is John Walsh. He works at the county highway department. He also works with the community in organizing grade school basketball and baseball programs. My children are 14 and 11. Andrew is a freshman at Earlville High School and Olivia is in sixth grade in Earlville as well. They are very busy in sports and school activities.

Education: I received my bachelor's degree in elementary education from North Central College in Naperville. I also have my master's degree in education from Aurora University.

Best childhood memory: I think I always wanted to be a teacher like my grandma. who taught first grade.

What I like best about my job: The best part about my job is the children. At my level, they grow so much in one year. They come in not knowing what school is all about, and leave being able to read. It is the most rewarding part of my job.

Book I've been reading: With my schedule, I do not read many books for myself. Currently, we are reading "Where the Wild Things Are" as a classroom unit. It is wonderful when books are brought alive through recordings and movies. The children get so excited to relive a story over and over.

Three words that best describe me: I hope people think of me as a loving, caring and patient teacher.

What I love about working in Serena: I love having the opportunity to work in a small community like Serena. The parents are involved and care about helping their child. We have great support from our community and PTO. I love being able to work in a K-12 building where I can see my students growing up. It feels great to walk down the halls and have a student say, "Hello," to you who remembers you from kindergarten. I work with a very close and caring staff that makes it easy to go to work every day.