Over her first 10 years teaching at Orange Beach Elementary School, Lainey Middleton has found plenty of reasons to love her job.

“I love the problem solving that comes with each new day,” Middleton says. “No two days are ever the same — or even close to the same. You really have to think on your toes all the time. It keeps you young.”

Middleton, a resource teacher, says one of the best things about teaching at OBES is knowing the other teachers support her at all times.

“We are a smaller school, and it helps keep us close with each other,” Middleton says. “We know what is going on in each other¹s lives and are able to support each other. This carries over to the students, and they can see the love and respect we all have for each other. It just makes us all better.”

Middleton graduated from St. Paul’s Episcopal School before earning her bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of South Alabama and a master’s degree in health studies from the University of Alabama.

Whether working one-on-one with her students or alongside the school’s faculty and staff, Middleton says she has yet to have a bad day at OBES.

“I can honestly say in my teaching career at Orange Beach, I have never woken up and thought, ‘I don’t want to go to school today,’” Middleton says. “It is such a positive, warm and inviting environment. It truly is the best place I can imagine teaching.”

She says her main goal is to make her student’s lives a little better, just as her own teachers did for her when she was growing up.

“Middle school is a tough time for any student,” Middleton says. “You are just beginning to discover who you are and who you want to be. My teachers encouraged me and the rest of the students not to settle for anything less than what we dreamed to be.”

Middleton says the teachers of her childhood showed her how much a good teacher can impact the lives of their students.

“I have so many fond memories from kindergarten through graduate school,” she says. “It makes me remember how significant a role I play in the lives of the students I teach.”

TEACHER: Lainey Middleton

SCHOOL: Orange Beach Elementary School

SUBJECT(S) TAUGHT: Resource teacher