We can all remember a teacher who made a positive impact on our life. For the last 28 years, Miss Sara Hill has left an outstanding impression on hundreds of students.

“I always say I could have written a book! I really wish I would have 28 years ago, started writing down those little stories.”

Sara is a lifelong Duluth resident. Starting out at Chester Park Elementary, her middle school years were at Woodland Junior High, and then she was a Duluth East graduate. She went on to get her undergrad and masters degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Sara has taught at a few schools in Duluth, but currently educates a colorful classroom full of kindergarteners at Lester Park Elementary. Her parents still live here, too.

“My mom is a retired teacher in Duluth Public Schools, and I just watched what she did everyday and was so inspired by the difference she was making in the lives of other kids that I knew that was something I definitely wanted to do, and be able to put my mark on the next generation in some small way.”

Miss Hill’s compassion for her students goes beyond the classroom. She’s invited to her students after school sporting events, graduation ceremonies, birthday parties. In just the last couple years, one of Sara’s students had a serious medical incident, and she worked to fundraise to help cover some of the expensive cost of treatment. Miss Hill even drove four hours to visit this student while they were in the hospital.

“To me, it’s just fun to be invited to their sporting events and community events that they’re in. When I had my student have some severe medical issues, it was just really important for me to continue to support her family and support her. I just had to go down and check on her and make sure she was okay, just for me, too. To make sure that she was gonna be okay, too.”

Even on the hard days, Miss Hill says it’s her students’ smiling faces that keep her going.

“Not all days are going to be sunshine and rainbows. It’s finding the joy in every single day. And finding the joy that children give us. Children are like sponges. They soak up all our energy, but we give them one little squeeze and we get it all back. That’s kinda my motto that I go with on those hard days.”

For these reasons, and so many more, Sara Hill is an Outstanding Teacher of the Northland.