Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Whether it’s a family member, a celebrity or a fictional hero, having a good role model can change can your life. Rosemont Elementary School’s Teacher of Year Lindsey Foster is a prime example of a role model’s impact.

“I had some amazing teachers growing up and used to play school at home when I was a little kid,” Foster said. “In first grade, I had Mrs. Beth Doerr who was just a phenomenal, hands-on, creative teacher and just made me love school and learning. In second grade, I had Mrs. Mary Beth Skandalakis, who was the same way.”

Foster said as a child her teachers would let her take home leftover work that she would use to play school with imaginary students and her little sister.

“I always knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Foster said.

Foster said she was shocked and honored to be named teacher of the year.

“This school is full of dedicated phenomenal teachers for them to choose me was an honor,” Foster said.

Foster said the most fulfilling part has been watching her students grow as well as seeing the children who may start off disliking school loving It.

“Seeing the growth that kids make educationally is rewarding but also seeing the kids who don’t necessarily want to be at school in the beginning — it’s not their favorite thing, maybe their lives at home are a little harder.

But seeing their hearts soften, seeing them start to feel loved and find joy in loving school is where my heart is,” Foster said.

Foster said she has learned from her colleagues at Rosemont and felt blessed about the timing she came to the school as a new teacher.

“Everybody here genuinely loves the kids and their hearts in it for the betterment of them,” Foster said. “It’s a good environment.”

When Foster isn’t in the classroom, she can be found outdoors with her family or supporting her children Allie, Libby, and Jake in their various sport activities. During the summer, Foster and her family go to Zambia where she teaches school in an orphanage.

If Foster wasn’t teaching in a classroom, she said she would probably be teaching classes at a CrossFit gym.

“We actually owned a CrossFit gym here in town,” Foster said. “It’s teaching in a totally different style but honestly teaching is the only thing I ever imagined myself doing.”