LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile
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Christine Meeks
Position: Third Grade Teacher
School: LaBrae Intermediate School
School District: LaBrae Local School District
City, State: Leavittsburg , OH
Music that Describes Christine
Christine Meeks was nominated by an anonymous member of the community.
Mrs. Meeks always wanted to be a teacher. As a matter of fact, she was very mature for her age and acted as a teacher when she was younger. She earned her degree and got to work immediately, connecting with students just a few years younger than her at first, where her impact was profound in many ways. She gave those early students a sense of trust they weren't familiar with. Mrs. Meeks was also a great cheerleading coach, taking her squad to many regional competitions and producing great results. Many years later, her early students are more like peers to her now, but they still only call her Mrs. Meeks.
She has a smile that lights up a room, a cafeteria, and any assembly. Her warm manner with the student body is contagious, and many parents have lobbied to get their children in her room years beforehand. She is the teacher who learns the names of students who have other teachers, and she seems to know which ones need a hug on certain days or every day. It's sad that some kids are in situations where they may not get motherly affection. For those kids, she is much, much more than a teacher.
She has also done some amazing things for kids who don't have clean clothes and risk being looked at by others in a negative way. She has actually bought "temporary or loaner clothes" for those kids, and she kept them in a cabinet in her room to have the kids change into before homeroom. Then, on her morning break, she'd drive to her home, just one mile from the school, to throw them in the washer. She'd go back on her lunch break to the throw them in the dryer and take them back for to kids to change back into.
"Christine has been a staple of the community for more than 25 years. She was recently selected by one of the senior football players as his all-time favorite educator. She refers to her students as 'My little Johnny,' or 'My sweet Fiona,' or sometimes 'My ornery Steven,' but they are all 'Her Kids.' Christine is what teachers should be in so many ways, and our community is dreading the day she decides to retire," said her nominator.