Teacher of the Month Shari Baze, Bellehaven ES

Posted February 26, 2018, 10:10 AM. Updated January 28, 2020, 1:44 PM.

Pepsi and the APS Education Foundation recognize some of our outstanding teachers.

Shari Baze is the Pepsi/APS Education Foundation’s Teacher of the Month for February. Pepsi and the APS Education Foundation have partnered for the past eight years to recognize a few of the district’s outstanding teachers for their contributions to the classroom, school, and community. In their second year, Flying Star Café is recognizing our teachers by donating a gift card.

The Foundation randomly selects one APS school each month, and that school’s principal or staff chooses a teacher to be honored. The teacher receives a $100 check from Pepsi, a $50 gift card from Flying Star Café and acknowledgment on the APS website, Facebook page and electronic billboards.

They receive a small token of appreciation but represent the many outstanding teachers in Albuquerque Public Schools.

Meet Shari Baze:

Transcript

[Music] Shari Baze has been a teacher here for quite a few years and she's taught different grade levels and most recently she's been at kindergarten and she is really a solid team player. There are three kindergarten teachers and they all work so well collaboratively and she's just very kind and she I think has really found her niche with kindergarten. I started out teaching because I liked kids and then I just kept going because I felt like I was making a difference in their lives. She is a nationally board certified teacher and it doesn't take you very long to be in her classroom to realize that she is a distinguished educator. She has an extremely calm presence in the classroom and that calmness is necessary for these little kindergarteners who come in kind of heightened. I want to instill in them that they always need to try, even if something is hard, even if something seems daunting, that they should always try and try their best. [Music]