(light music) - I'm Erica Hasinus.

I teach at Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School, and at Lake-Lehman, I teach biology.

Honors biology, AP biology, and regular biology.

- I met Mrs. Hasinus in my ninth grade honors biology class, and I just remember she made the room very welcoming, and made sure everyone was very comfortable when she came into the class.

- I became a teacher because it's part of my blood.

My father was a teacher.

He taught for over 30 years.

I have aunts and uncles, so it's just part of the family.

- Mrs. Hasinus is a very kind and thoughtful teacher.

She really makes sure she goes over all of the information very well, and makes sure her students have fun while learning.

- What I like best about being a teacher is the interaction I get from the students.

You never know what you're going to get from year to year, and it changes, and that's exciting.

Teaching can be very challenging, yet it's very rewarding.

- I think Mrs. Hasinus is a great teacher because she really truly cares about her students, and she makes sure we thoroughly understand the information.

She'll go over it as many times as she needs to.

You can come down during a study hall, you could do whatever you want, and she'll just completely accommodate you and make sure that you're on the right track.

- I met Paige in her ninth grade year.

She took my honors biology course, and then she came back in her 10th grade year for some help on her Science Olympiad project with her peers.

Science Olympiad is a program at our school where our gifted students will attend a competition dealing with science topics.

- And we had to build a protein model, and we really had no idea how to do it and how to go about it at all, but we went down to Mrs. Hasinus 'cause we figured she could help us a little bit, 'cause she's biology.

- And we had to research her topic, and then she was able to build this beautiful model, and she did well at the competition.

And then she decided her senior year to come back and take my AP biology course.

And this year was different because of the pandemic, so she chose the virtual option.

- For most of the classes, it was kinda hard to pay attention, but in her class it really was not difficult to pay attention at all.

She would just keep the energy up, and just make sure we were all engaged and asking questions, and making sure that we were all happy, and telling jokes, and just making class fun.

- Moving forward, knowing that Paige has chosen me as a great teacher, I just hope that I will be able to continue to be a positive influence on my future students, and just pass along my love for science to them, and my love for learning to them, as well.

- I had no idea what I was going to do when I came out of high school.

I didn't know what career field I was even going to go into, and Mrs. Hasinus just was so passionate about science, and really cared about it, and just made it fun for me, so science just became one of my favorite things to do, and I decided to go into environmental science because of her.

- Paige, I want to thank you for choosing me as your great teacher.

I'm flabbergasted that you took the extra time to go above and beyond and nominate me for this award.

I cannot wait to see what you'll do in the future.

You've already made us so proud at Lake-Lehman, so I just cannot wait to see what your future holds.

- Mrs. Hasinus, I'd like to thank you so much for being my great teacher.

Even though you may not have known it throughout the four years you've known me, that you really impacted my life in the way that I will go about learning and my career in the future, and how I look at things in general, so thank you, and keep doing what you do.

(light music)