A teacher in Florida was recognized this year as one of our national LifeChangers of the Year for her extraordinary commitment to the well-being and success of her students and their families.
Michele Mohl is a teacher at Palmetto Elementary School in West Palm Beach, Fla., as well as a school-based team leader and a teacher on assignment.
Michele is recognized for stepping up when students are struggling and helping them turn their lives around. She worked with fifth-grade patrols that have helped students pursue an opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. She also started a student-run bike store, where students repair old bikes and donate them to families that need them.
Beyond the classroom, she run garage sales to help those in need in the community and she has taken the lead at the school’s food bank, even recruiting members of her own family to deliver meals to local families in need.
“It’s not what she means to me, it’s what she means to so many lives, both young and old, all throughout Palm Beach County (and beyond),” Dee Wagner wrote on Michele’s LIfeChanger profile. “Of all that she contributes, the most important is the undying love she gives to everyone she comes in contact with. When it comes to supporting the young lives both in school and on athletic fields, her main focus was not on winning, but the heart and passion that surpasses and grows with time.”
As a national LifeChanger award winner, Michele will share a $3,000 prize with her school.
Separately, our five finalists will travel to Naples, Fla., next month for our Conference of Champions where our grand prize winner will be announced. The grand prize carries a $10,000 cash prize. The runners-up get $7,500 prizes. All of the prizes are split equally between the winners and their schools.