Lea Taylor influences almost every department at Jordan Intermediate School

Sunrise brings wafts of coffee brewing and images of Lea Taylor at Jordan Intermediate in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD. Both are part of the early morning, and often late afternoon, hours at the school. Ms. Taylor dedicates herself to her task and does whatever it takes, whether it is developing curriculum, tutoring students, ensuring that some 300+ computer stations are running properly or supervising the design and publication of the school's annual yearbook. She has been teaching four years of her 29 at Jordan.

Officially she is the campus technology teacher, teaching more than 650 5th and 6th grade students keyboarding skills and use of common software programs. As Tech Mate for the school, her services are in high demand, from the administration to each of the school clubs, including one of the largest – the Yearbook Club. She teaches students to take photos, edit them, and use them to create an online layout of their yearbook, another application to build and reinforce students' skills with technology.

Her goal for each child is that he or she feels confident in having the ability to succeed. She also wants each of them to feel comfortable as a productive member of a team. Students come with all levels of skills, and she works to help every child reach his or her maximum potential. She designs their projects reinforce skills the students will need in the future when they are job hunting or in the workforce as a productive member of a company or organization. "They'll use computer skills they're learning now for the rest of their lives," she stresses. My job is to get them ready to succeed.