Last year, Mrs. Borger-Germann was given a Shine Award for her teaching skills. Now, having had her for almost a whole school year, I can say that I would also have given her that title.

For one thing, Mrs. B is one of the most relatable teachers I’ve ever had; she’s a vegetarian, a feminist, a writer, and an avid bookworm. I have had more conversations with her about Harry Potter and Magnus Chase than I can count. The writing club she hosts after school every Friday provides an awesome time to relax and write, and (though I have never attended myself) I have heard great things about her Monday morning feminist club.

Another great thing about Mrs. B is her teaching style; I’ve never had a teacher more enthusiastic and smart about teaching than her. Everyone has had teachers who seem to hate their job, but Mrs. B is not that teacher. She starts class every day with panache. Besides her enthusiasm, her teaching style is centered around making sure that students actually understand material instead of just being able to recite facts. For our analysis essays, we chose an issue we wanted to learn about and analyzed the problems.

Finally, maybe the best thing about Mrs. B is that she cares about getting to know her students. Lots of people like Harry Potter and writing, but not all of them care about making connections. Mrs. B tells stories about her kids (which many teachers don’t do) and ask students how they’re doing. Once I had a few 10-point assignments dragging down my English grade, and when I asked Mrs. B about it, she took twenty minutes after school out of her schedule to help me fix it. She cares about her students, and that makes her awesome.