Wildrem Andrade Matamoros is Dallas ISD's Elementary School Teacher of the Year.
"I truly didn't believe I was going to win," Andrade Matamoros said.
The 5th-grade teacher of bilingual education at Louise Wolff Kahn Elementary School in Oak Cliff has a lot in common with her students.
"I do see myself in them at times," Andrade Matamoros said. "When I came from Honduras I was 9-years-old."
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The teacher knowns as "Ms. Andrade" was once a student at Kahn Elementary.
"To me, it's just like yesterday," Andrade Matamoros said. "As an immigrant child, I was just in shock."
Andrade Matamoros said she didn't speak the language at first, but her community at Kahn Elementary helped change her future.
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When Andrade Matamoros was a young girl in Honduras, she says a teacher told her she could not be someone of importance. Andrade Matamoros said she never wants her students to think that.
"I always, like, remember that because when a student tells me that they want to be something, I believe in them, because anything is possible," Andrade Matamoros said. "I truly believe there is opportunity in every child."
Her classroom is filled with notes that remind her how much students appreciate her.
"Truly, what makes me happy is that my students are happy," Andrade Matamoros said.
