Speaker: DANIEL HERNANDEZ, Arizona
DANIEL HERNANDEZ: Oh my God, it's so hard to pick just one teacher. Um, I had so many fabulous teachers when I was a part of the Sunnyside Unified School District. And I got lucky, that I had teachers at every level, whether it was elementary school with Miss Diggins, Ms. Breckenfield, Mr. Wyatt, Miss Rosales or middle school when I had Miss Mayorga and folks like Cindy Winston, who's the person that I'm talking about today. She was my middle school science teacher and I was a really inquisitive and curious kid and she really encouraged me to explore and to learn about new things. And I think that was something that I really appreciated that she said it was ok to explore and that it was ok to learn about things, even the things that we weren't even supposed to be learning in class and to go out there and explore and learn more about the world. So that was something that was really special that she helped foster that desire and that love of exploration, especially in the sciences.
What would you say to that teacher right now?
DANIEL HERNANDEZ: You know, thankfully, um, I've actually kept in touch with Cindy and I'm so appreciative of all the work that she did, not just for me, but for so many countless students, um, she's been really focused on working with kids who are at risk who are in low income communities. Um, so I know many of us, including my sisters are just so grateful to her. Um, for all that, she's done sacrificing so much to be able to help kids who really need a wonderful teacher like her.
