On Friday, January 15 Cypress Woods announced their Spotlight Teacher of the Year: Life Skills teacher Mrs. Sonia Tallon.

The Spotlight Teacher award is a prestigious honor bestowed upon the staff member who shows the most spirit throughout the year, and the process of picking the recipient is an extensive one.

“We take feedback from each of the academic departments in the building,” Principal Gary Kinninger said. “Then, they bring us candidates and as an administrative team we talk about the strength of those people, and we decide who’s our brightest shining star.”

Tallon works at Woods teaching Special Education students, dealing with the struggles of teaching while also attending to students with special needs.

“Mrs. Tallon is a busy bee. She performs a job that goes unnoticed. She takes care of our special needs children,” Kinniger said. “She has a true passion for it. That to me is what teaching is all about; having a true passion, showing up every day and doing it with a 212 attitude.”

The symbolic ‘212’ at Woods means to put in that extra degree of work- as 212 degrees is the temperature at which water boils, and not a degree less. The Woods administration decided that Tallon was the teacher who exemplified the idea of ‘212 spirit’ the most throughout the entire year, and she believes that her integrity is what got her the award.

“I’m overwhelmed and honored that they would pick me as spotlight teacher,” Tallon said. “I do what I do never expecting recognition.”

Tallon began working with students as a family consultant, but once she realized that she would be able to spend so much more time with the children if she was a teacher instead she began teaching high school.

“When I graduated from college with a Psychology degree many years ago, I was a family consultant and truly felt like this was my calling,” Tallon said. “I worked with all ages and found myself wanting to do more. As a family consultant, I would visit homes once a week. As a teacher, I could be with them every day.”

Though Tallon is the one being recognized for what she offers students, she is exceedingly grateful for what her students provide her with.

“My students inspire me to be a better person,” Tallon said. “They give me so much and I just can’t imagine my path being any different.”