When Bridget Fischer decided to teach social skills to kids involved in a juvenile justice program in Florida, she had no idea how the experience would change her life.
"But I fell in love with these kids," she said.
So much so, in fact, that she shifted from her planned law career and began to focus on exceptional education.
Now, the Pilot Club of Chattanooga is recognizing the Ooltewah High School teacher for her six years of work in Tennessee public schools. Named the 2017 Special Education Teacher of the Year by the local chapter of the Pilot Club, a service club which began in the 1920s to focus on making positive impacts in communities, Fischer's accomplishments in her field will go on to the statewide level. The winner will be announced at a convention in April.
"Everyone we talked to brought up her name," club member Nancy Carroll said of the decision to select Fischer for the local award.
A certified CALMM Teacher, which stands for Coaching All Learning Mentoring and Modeling, an instructional method to reach differently abled learners, Fischer said her biggest passion is focusing on students diagnosed on the autism spectrum. They often have less resources available to them than other exceptional education students, she explained.
Especially as her first Ooltewah High students begin to age out and graduate, Fischer said she worries about what will come next, which is why her method has a two-fold focus on academics and giving each student the resources to learn how to be his or her own advocate.
"It's about offering that academic support to help them focus, and reteaching them," she said. "And then it's about a social skills component for a class they have with me for social and self-advocacy skills. As my kids start to age out, they're going to need other programs after high school."
She dreams of beginning a program that students like hers can rely on once they age out of the structured school system. But for now, she said, she focuses on keeping in touch with her students after they graduate and learning what their biggest needs become so she can one day build a program to help.
"In education, a lot of it is about scores and numbers. But from my aspect, the growth and the measure that I see is the most exciting... and I get to be part of that," said Fischer.