COLUMBUS, Ohio — Josiah Wade knew the perfect person to nominate as a Classroom Hero. He knows her well. After all, she’s his wife.
“Teachers in general, in my opinion, are just underpaid, underappreciated, and oftentimes go unseen when it comes down to the things they truly do,” Josiah Wade said. “Not just in the classroom but even outside of the classroom.”
His wife, Kimberly Wade, is in her third year of teaching at Weinland Park Elementary School in Columbus City Schools.
“I love helping the kids,” she said. “I love them wanting to come in the classroom every day and want to learn, and I love seeing them have those aha moments.”
Kimberly Wade credits her kindergarten teacher for sparking her love of education. She describes being “the kid who cried every morning” but wanting to go to school to see her teacher.
From there, the goal only solidified.
“(It’s) definitely what I’m meant to do,” she said. “I love helping people. I love helping other teachers, other kiddos from other classes, just to make them happy. My goal is just to make everybody’s day a little bit better.”
And, according to her husband, she does. Josiah Wade often had a front-row seat to his wife’s teaching when they were home during the pandemic. He even joined in sometimes, reading books to the students virtually.
“She is the epitome of just an educator who truly cares,” he said. “And not just about the students that are in her classroom but any student that is in the building she’s working in, or any student at all for that matter.”
When hearing her husband’s praise for her work, she described herself as speechless.
“I think that’s very sweet, I guess he really does love me,” she joked.