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For Teacher of the Year nominee Dalecia Hamilton, becoming a teacher wasn’t always the plan.

“Initially, I wanted to be a corporate lawyer,” Hamilton said. “I was doing pre-law until I stopped and switched paths.”

Growing up, Hamilton’s mother worked for the local parks and recreation department where she would work with the children in the programs.

“I was always doing stuff around kids. I could never get away from it,” Hamilton said. “I can’t remember a time when I didn’t work with kids.”

Hamilton, a special education teacher for Berta Weathersbee Elementary School, combines teaching with a little bit of party. Her passion for kids and teaching has resulted in her being named Berta Weathersbee’s Teacher of the Year.

“When you come to a school like Berta, it humbles you,” Hamilton said. “Just seeing these students every day, knowing where they come from, knowing a lot of the things they’ve been through, and honestly and especially with my population, what do I have the right to complain about? I’ve got babies who have been through several surgeries, and I’ve got walking miracles in my room. It’s a reminder and has humbled me — it makes you appreciate everything you have.”

Hamilton said she got into teaching special education when she worked at Virginia’s Key Center for Special Needs Students. She worked as a substitute teacher for the School Aged Child Care (SACC) program in Fairfax County. Through time, she would fall in love with the job and took a position as a permanent substitute for the program.

When she is not teaching her students their sight words through song, Hamilton can be found on the tennis court or binge-watching her favorite nostalgic shows like Girlfriends, Living Single and Law and Order SVU.

Hamilton has been teaching at BWES for six years and four years prior in the Muscogee County School District. She is married to Jarvis Hamilton and has four kids — Sean, Serena, Anaia and Azaria.

“I love what I do,” Hamilton said. “I couldn’t be Teacher of the Year without the students, and not just the ones here in my classroom. Our purpose is not just about what we do in the classroom, it’s what we do in our school, and that means a lot to me.”