Karla Griggs made a career switch to teaching almost 25 years ago and never looked back

Click here to nominate an educator for WJCL's Teacher Feature.Karla Griggs is a co-math teacher at Islands High School."I've taught in many different schools, and this is a special place," she said. Griggs has spent nearly 25 years in the classroom. "It's just kind of natural. I wasn't a teacher until 2001. I was in Washington, D.C., and after 9/11, I had lost my job. I had my degree, so I started teaching then," Griggs said. Students tend to either love or hate math. For the ones who hate it, Griggs says she tries her best to keep them excited about it."It's a challenge, but you just keep a positive attitude, and a lot of times it's not anything they want to do, so it takes your energy. You have to bring it," she said.Griggs has mostly taught high school students with the exception of a few years."I love teenagers. They're a lot of fun and then all the high school stuff. You have the sports, and the prom. The fun things in their life. This is a really big time of their lives. You can have a lot of effect in these years," Griggs said. She added that her students make her a better teacher every year. Griggs hopes they walk away from her class knowing how much she cares about them."Just a pleasant experience. A pleasant memory. This can be a very tough time of life for teenagers so maybe that was an easy time when you were in my class. We really have a lot of wonderful kids. We really have wonderful kids here and it's worth it," she said.Click here to see other teachers who have been honored with the WJCL 22 Teacher Feature Award.