Elizabeth Sanchez-Lopez uses dance to inspire students at Stevens High School

Elizabeth Sanchez-Lopez knows how to get her students into the "swing" of things in her classroom. As the dance teacher and fine arts coordinator, she believes that "everyone can dance." To prove it, she even conducts dance classes after school for her fellow faculty members. She says it's symbolic - it also means that everyone can achieve whatever they have their hearts set on doing in their lives.

She developed Stevens' Cultural Dance Class and doubled the number of students involved in her dance programs from 74 to 144 in one year. She has written shows for students to perform outside the school in local venues. She also gives back to the community, having been the program director, choreographer and lead singer for Fiesta Del Noche for the past 15 years. She has also been dance consultant and choreographer for both Fiesta Texas and SeaWorld programs, among many other laudable achievements.

She also knows how to inspire students to push through their challenges to find their personal best. Eleven years ago Ms. Lopez was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, which left her so weak that doctors told her she would have to stop teaching. She refused. For someone who uses the body like an instrument, it was devastating. She still loses her balance at times, but she's steady in what she calls her "divine assignment" of teaching.

"I prepare them for life," Ms. Lopez says of her job. It's not just helping students learn to dance - it's helping them get rid of that low self esteem and move on to whatever they want to become. She's teaching her students how to become leaders - while she continues her own courageous dance of life.