What do you do for a living and what do you love about it?

I’m a year one teacher at Orange Primary School, I’ve been teaching for 22 years. I love working with young children, just seeing the progress they make with reading is fantastic. When you have a young person who’s struggling with reading, and giving them the skills to then pick up a book and feel confident – I just love that! Reading is my really big thing that I enjoy teaching, so that’s my favourite part of my job.

What fills your cup?

I love getting out and walking. I love walking around our family property, just to take some time out from work and take time for myself. I try and walk every day, even when it’s snowing, raining, I take the umbrella out in the snow and walk. You can get very closed in with these four walls in a classroom so getting out and enjoying fresh air is fantastic.

Where is you favourite quiet spot in Orange?

I actually love my parent’s house, being out on their property they have. I grew up right near Mount Canobolas, so I love being able to see the mountain. They’ve got a beautiful area out the back that’s perfect to just sit out there and look up at the mountain.

Describe your ideal day out with unlimited time and budget?

I’m pretty boring- my ideal day out that we used to do a lot when the kids were younger is just putting the kids in the car and just driving in a different direction around Orange. So, you get up and just think- will I go North? South? West? Which way are we gonna go today? And then you just discover new areas here. I’ve lived in Orange my whole life, and driven on the same roads my whole life, and then you can think, well I’ve never driven down this way before, so let’s try that today. Throw in lunch with my family at one of the small pubs, like Lucknow, and that’s my ideal day out for me.

What is your greatest accomplishment and what did it take for you to get there?

Well, I was going to say my children because I am so very proud of them and just seeing my three boys grow into decent young men is a really proud achievement for me. My greatest achievement in my career would probably just be getting to the end of the year and seeing the progress that a child has made. Kids love to come back and they still come up to you and give you a big hug or they say, “You’re my favourite teacher Mrs Lee”, and every time that happens, I think “Yeah, I made a difference in that child’s life” so that’s a huge accomplishment for me.

If you were running for Mayor, what would your campaign slogan be?

“Orange, why would you want to be anywhere else?