It’s no secret how big of an impact a teacher can make on a student. Spending almost 200 days a year with someone who believes in them might be all a student needs to believe in themselves – and freshman English teacher Liz Neely of Lincoln High School strives for this. A Lincoln Alum herself, Neely enters room 101 every day to create a comfortable environment for her kids. She knows better than anyone how valuable a book can be as an escape, no matter where students go home to every night.

Being a teacher always seemed like a destiny for Neely, foreshadowed by her long lineage of educators in the family. Even still, she was never really set on being a teacher growing up, pursuing business/corporate sales after college. But she would see her mother returning from work with heartfelt cards and gifts. She realized that the paycheck alone wasn’t fulfilling enough, reflecting on thinking to herself, “What’s my gravestone going to say? That I made a lot of money? Because my mom’s is going to be extravagantly beautiful.” She packed her bags up from her job in finance, and began subbing. Her love for her students eventually led her back to Lincoln, a love which proved to be priceless compared to any amount of money.

Neely approaches teaching with more empathy by reflecting on her own time in high school, contrasting it with her students’. “Some of my students work twice as hard as I ever did in high school, but get worse grades than I did,” she says. By recognizing the amount of different privileges which she did not share with her students, she gained a better understanding for how hard some students try, which might not always reflect in their grades.

Acknowledging that all her students come from different backgrounds and different lives at home also gave her an appreciation for what a book can do for these students. For some, it’s a release from an unsafe place, an escape from any trauma. About reading, she says: “That to me is the most important thing. To get them bought into the idea that you can leave your existence for a little bit in a book.” Without forcing them to read, Neely hopes to open her students’ eyes to the change which books can bring to their lives.

There’s a reason why her classroom is always filled to the brim with old students visiting. Even the students who might not have had the same advantages as her – in school or at home – are encouraged everyday to do their best and blossom into the best students that they can be.