GENESEO, Ill. — Each year, News 8 receives nominations from students throughout eastern Iowa and western Illinois who want to recognize "My Favorite Teacher." We feature five outstanding educators each year.
Sometimes in a classroom, the teacher is as impressed with the student as the student is with the teacher.
And for a young student named Hailey Olson, that teacher is Geneseo Northside Elementary third grade teacher Tami Monier.
"Ms. Monier, you're 'My Favorite Teacher,'" Hailey proudly said as she marched into her old classroom to present an award she says is much deserved.
"Hailey, oh my gosh," Monier said, wrapping Hailey in a warm embrace, "Oh, sweetheart."
Hailey is now in fourth grade, but returned to a classroom she sometimes couldn't attend thanks to the COVID pandemic a year ago.
"Even though she was my teacher, she feels more like family and that is why she's my favorite teacher," Hailey said.
That recognition strikes at the heart of Monier's reason for teaching.
"My kids mean a lot to me, they're like my children so I really wanted them to know that I have those connections with them," she said.
Simply put, the COVID pandemic was tough on teachers and students. And it made some lessons a little strange.
Take, for example, the Zoom classrooms where Ms. Monier is sharing a split screen with her students, most in their homes, some just recently awakened.
In one of the boxes is fresh-faced Hailey, perched inside the cab on a John Deere tractor.
"She would just get up super early in the morning. Some of my boys and girls would be rolling out of bed at their Zoom meeting and she would already have done chores, and been out doing something with the cows and all these different kinds of things."
"Whenever I didn't understand something she would set up a Google meet and help me no matter what, if I were in the tractor or day care, she was always there to help me," added Hailey.
Hailey may just be 10-years old but she's often found working on the family farm even before some of her fellow classmates have rolled out of bed.
"My dad farms and I basically do it with him," said Hailey, who added she wants to be a farmer when she gets older.
"I'm just so proud of her for that," Ms. Monier said.
"I just have so much respect for her and her family in that sense too because they do have that drive."
But Hailey says she's thankful for Ms. Monier's drive to be part of her students' lives.
"She is one of the most nicest and most caring people I know."
"It is a great class, this is a great age, they love learning still," said Ms. Monier. "They'll still let you give them hugs, they'll still, you know, want that attention."
That was reason enough to return to a classroom she left and a teacher she won't forget.
And the reason the teacher won't forget the student who once was hers.
"She has a heart of gold and every teacher who's had her absolutely loves her."