For the past three weeks I have been writing a story a day about the teacher of the year nominees from around Warren County.

They were art teachers, a JROTC instructor, teachers of every subject including science, math, English and history, elementary teachers that are a one stop shop and even one guidance counselor.

When I was first assigned this duty for the paper, I can’t say I was excited. I spent almost an entire day doing interviews one after the other at the Chamber of Commerce office and then for three weeks had to do a story a day from those interviews.

Going in it seemed like a drag, but now that I have finished the project and the winners have been announced (Warren Central NJROTC instructor Jimmy Holder won secondary teacher of the year and Kristy Gross, a fourth grade teacher at Vicksburg Intermediate, was selected as elementary educator of the year) I realize how much of a pleasure it was.

As the education reporter at The Post, a lot of times my stories are about data. It is my job to write about graduation numbers, test scores and accountability metrics. The people can sometimes get lost in the numbers so it was nice to sit back and meet some of the best of the best teachers in Warren County, both public and private.

Many of the teachers when asked were originally planning to do something different. Some were in business others nursing or forensic science, but they each had an epiphany that they could help mold students and be an example for them.

I had some great teachers growing up, and the students who have these 21 teachers and many others in Warren County are incredibly fortunate.

The passion they have and the love they exude for their students is incredible. Almost every one of them when I asked how they define success said something about helping the struggling students succeed or how incredible it is when the light bulb goes off for a student.

Teachers can have an incredible impact on children depending on if they encourage them and help them succeed or cast them aside and allow them to fail. These teachers will bend over backwards to make sure their students reach their potential and the parents of their students should be overjoyed.

I only met a small segment of teachers during these interviews — one from every school — but feel comforted knowing there are many more like them in Warren County.

A little love, a lot of kindness and a big smile will change a child’s life and these teachers have that all in abundance. Congratulations to all those who were nominated.

Brandon O’Connor is a staff writer for The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at brandon.oconnor@vicksburgpost.com.