TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Mica Mountain High School culinary arts teacher Amy De La O is passionate about her job.
"Oh I love it. I love it," she said. "There hasn't been one day so far that I've said I don't come to work."
She's in her fifth year of teaching, having helped start the Culinary Arts program at Mica Mountain three years ago.
"I want to make a difference by being able to instill some skills into our younger generation, that they can carry out and have those lifelong skills, no matter the job that they're going to have," she said.
De La O says she comes from a family of teachers and coaches and had a calling to teach culinary arts.
She says that coaching background helps her connect with her students.
"Teaching and being able to build relationships with your students I think is the most important thing," she said. "Once you have that relationship built with your students you're able to teach them new things. They trust you."
An important part of Mica Mountain's culinary arts program is giving students real-world experience.
"We have a food trailer, we run a catering business," she said. "So there's a lot of different other facets that I'm able to teach as well."
As a finalist for the Arizona Athletics High School Teacher of the Year, De La O says she's honored to join a prestigious list of past finalists from the Vail School District.
"I was definitely humbled. It's very exciting," she said. "Vail has a tremendous teacher bank, if you will. Just knowing that I was chosen to be one of those top teachers in our district was definitely an honor."
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Phil Villarreal is the senior real-time editor for KGUN 9. He is also a digital producer and host of "Phil on Film" seen weekly on Good Morning Tucson, Phil moved to KGUN after 17 years with the Arizona Daily Star. He is married and has four children. Share your story ideas and important issues with Phil by emailing phil.villarreal@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
