Burgreen educating for life

Jennifer Burgreen frequently quotes Gandhi’s famous saying: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Burgreen

She lives by it, breathes it, and has been instilling it in her kindergarten students for the past 19 years.

“I’m very involved with parents,” she said. “I go to ball games, dance recitals, birthday parties, church programs, anything kids invite me to. We have that long-lasting relationship.”

She can still remember the moment in high school that inspired her to become an educator.

“I’ll never forget the day I taught this boy named Jason to write his name for the first time,” she said. “When his face lit up, I knew he would be able to write his name for the rest of his life.”

She later attended Athens State University and the University of North Alabama and received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education.

She calls her students “babies” and still keeps in touch with them.

Burgreen never had children of her own, but the pillow she keeps in her home that reads “mirror, mirror on the wall, I’m a mother after all,” which is a nod to her students, says otherwise.

“My babies are having babies now, so I guess that makes me a grandmother,” she said.

Not only is she heavily involved in school, but she also lends her time to many civic and service organizations.

She’s a member of the Huntsville Junior League, participates in Relay for Life, the Humane Society and works as volunteer for Girls, Inc., among many other organizations.

She visited Kenya last summer, where she taught Pre-K and kindergarten for 10 days.

“It was life changing,” she said. “The children do not have restrooms and the classroom was four concrete walls with a dirt floor. All the kids had was a notepad and chalkboard.”

She said she brought glue, glitter and scissors and it was “like Santa had come to town.”

“I had some leftover Starbursts, and a woman said she would save it for her daughter, whose birthday was the next month,” she said. “A lot of people go over there with medicine and to treat the sick, but I went there to teach.”

“I just love teaching children, it’s very rewarding,” she said.

After 19 years as a teacher, she developed the philosophy: take what you get and be thankful, and save your tears for when you really need them.