AEA Principal Amanda Anderson decided to go into education when she was 17. She chose this path because she has 13 cousins on her dad's side of the family whom she used to tutor which is how she discovered her love of teaching.

"Before coming to AEA North Olmsted, I was a substitute teacher at Aurora High School, then I took a break from teaching for a while and coached Varsity softball," Anderson said. "After coaching for a bit, I went back to teaching and taught preschool and first grade for four and a half years before accepting a teaching position at AEA Strongsville.

"While I was at Strongsville the principal there suggested I apply for the principal position, and I thought he was joking, but he was not," Anderson said. "Then I signed up for my master's degree classes and got the position here at AEA North Olmsted."

When Anderson first started teaching she never thought she would ever become a principal. She was solely focused on teaching at first, but she is happy with her job as a principal as well.

She currently has her Master's degree in Education which allows her to become a superintendent one day if she is ever in the position where she desires to become one.

When it comes to teaching, Anderson's favorite grades to work with are the elementary students, but pre-school is her favorite out of those grades.

"I love preschoolers because they are so loving," Anderson said.

"The kids are still in that cute and cuddly stage, but they are also developing their independence. And, it is really amazing to see from when they first start school to the time they graduate."

She enjoys every part of being a principal but her favorite part is interacting with students and then forming one-on-one connections with them.

Some fun facts students might not know about Anderson are that she lived in Iowa for two and a half years, she has a pet German Sheppard named Bronk who hates swimming and she is getting married in July of 2023.

Anderson enjoys coming to work every day and she loves working with all the students as well as the staff at AEA North Olmsted.