Brynton Kolb, a ninth grader at Stonewall Jackson High School, says class with Laurie Phillips goes by so fast because it's that much fun.

Kolb states, "She's funny. She can be there whenever you need her and she's just the perfect teacher."

Phillips is loved not only by her students, but her coworkers, too.

Her instructional assistant, Ellen Wetzel, says, "I'm honored to work with her. She has taught me so much. She's great."

Phillips says she has wanted to be a teacher ever since she can remember. The first time she told her parents her goal was when she was four years old. In the fifth grade at New Market Elementary School, she even "taught" and helped first and second graders how to read.

She has officially been teaching for more than 20 years. Wetzel says that Phillips is wonderful with her students.

Wetzel states, "She has such a great sense of humor with them. She is able to relate to them. She gives so much of herself to the kids."

Phillips adds, "I feel that it's a calling, and there's nothing more wonderful, than doing something you feel you were meant to do."