LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Maria Gronowski was nominated by a family member, Avery Gronowski.

"My mom has been a teacher for over 23 years," said Avery. "She started as a reading intervention teacher and then went on to teach first grade for 19 years. In that time, she impacted the lives of close to 400 early readers. Anyone who has tried teaching a six-year-old how to read knows it's not always easy. As a first-grade teacher, she made it a point to develop strong relationships with her students, always calling them her kids. Those relationships held strong as her former students still reach out to her today with stories of their lives or memories of things they did in her class."

"Now that she is the technology teacher for her school, she teaches 500 students a year. Her school sees the importance of integrating technology into students' educational experiences. She makes it a point to teach early learners how to use their devices properly and works with the older students on being creative with projects and presentations. She still builds strong relationships with her students, even sponsoring her school's live morning announcements and Film Festival participation," said Avery.

"It's obvious that my mom is a leader in her classroom, but it doesn't stop there. During her career, she has served in many leadership roles. She has acted as grade-level chair, ensuring that her team was on the same page and kept up with important information regarding the school. She also acted as a mentor teacher for new teachers at her school, helping to guide them as they learned the ins and outs of teaching. She has worked within the school district to help write pacing guides and plan lessons for the entire county to use and has been a part of pilot programs for the county testing materials and programs to see if they would be useful to roll out to the rest of the schools. She has been a part of her school's leadership team for several years and is considered a strong team member who wants what is best for her students and the school," said Avery.

"My mom has been awarded many accolades such as Teacher of the Year, MCPSS Tech Grant Grand Prize Winner, Nappie winner for Coolest Elementary School Teacher, and has won several MCPSS Film Festival categories," said Avery. "Even with those wins, nothing comes close to being called a kid's Favorite Teacher."

"She's had a a great impact on me and countless students in her life," said Avery.