“Your purpose will always be to serve others.”

Sign up for our newsletter!

* indicates required

This is Hollie Echevarria’s motto for her Forest Meadow Junior High School classroom. And Echevarria, who is Forest Meadow’s Teacher of the Year, teaches by example.

She is the school’s special education teacher, and her seven students’ needs range from mild mental retardation to seizure disorders to cerebral palsy. In addition to their academic education, she oversees their physical and emotional needs while at school.

“I believe that every student can be successful,” Echevarria says. “Every day is like a puzzle.”

Echevarria came to Forest Meadow two years ago. She and her husband, Miguel, moved from Jackson, Tenn., where she taught special education for two years. She is 26 years old, which is young to be selected as teacher of the year, says Charles Bruner, principal at Forest Meadow.

“Absolutely that is rare,” Bruner says. “But I think you can tell by what goes on her in classroom why she was selected. She treats every child like they are hers.”

Echevarria was nominated for teacher of the year by her peers and then chosen by a committee of school administrators and teachers. Her name was forwarded to the Richardson Independent School District to compete for the district’s star teacher recognition.

“It will be really interesting,” because of Echevarria’s age and experience, Bruner says. “But these panels don’t just look at paperwork.”

And Bruner says if they see her in the classroom, they will be amazed.

“I personally can’t figure out if she was an angel sent here for us,” Bruner says. “It is a calling. She’s constantly having to juggle academic, emotional and physical needs.”

Echevarria speaks to her students in a soft tone and gently prods them to do activities in her classroom, where they learn math, reading and vocational skills for three to four periods a day. They attend general classes for special electives and physical education, where Echevarria and paraprofessionals support them.

In addition to academics, Echevarria says she works to teach her students proper social skills and the importance of serving others.

“Just so that life is not always about them,” Echevarria says.

Because each student has different needs, each one learns differently, and Echevarria says she is constantly adapting for them. Parent Tonya Lacey says Echevarria goes beyond what is expected from a teacher.

Lacey’s son, Nathan Kemp, has several medical problems and takes several medications. He undergoes physical therapy to help him with one of his hands. So Echevarria has worked using Nathan’s hand into his lesson plans.

“That’s not necessarily in the (required expectations),” Lacey says. “But that is something she has done.”

Echevarria also wears a necklace with several cards of action pictures, such as stop and sit down, around her neck because at times Nathan needs visual cues, rather than verbal, to respond.

“I’m very impressed,” says Lacey, who is in the classroom every day to help Nathan get settled. “Almost everything she does is an opportunity to learn, not just academics, but life skills, too.”

In her spare time, Echevarria spends time with her husband, runs and sings. But her work is her true calling.

“It’s not my career,” Echevarria says. “It’s my purpose.”