4th & 5th Grade English/Language Arts | Lake Panasoffkee Elementary School 

Grace “Sissy” Ashley has spent more than three decades doing what she loves most: helping children believe in themselves.

A fourth- and fifth-grade English Language Arts (ELA) teacher at Lake Panasoffkee Elementary, Sissy first entered college planning to become a marine biologist. But growing up helping care for her brother with Down syndrome and living with roommates in the education field helped shape her path.

“I just realized that’s where that’s where I was meant to be,” she says.

Sissy began teaching at Wildwood Middle School, where she stayed for four years before a hiatus to raise her three children and working evenings as a Supported Living Coach for Citrus County’s Key Training Center. Eight years later, she returned to teaching at LPES, where she has taught multiple grade levels and served as assistant principal.

Although she loved working in administration, she made the decision to return to the classroom so she could remain at the school she loves and continue teaching alongside her husband for several years.

“I just love inspiring kids and showing them that they can reach their potential and beyond,” she says. “Every kid needs to be put on a pedestal every once in a while.”

Her passion for students extends well beyond academics. Sissy helped bring Special Olympics programs to LPES and has spent years coaching and supporting students with special needs.

Today, she continues to mentor students both inside and outside the classroom, even helping restart the school’s Special Olympics activities and encouraging general education students to serve as “buddies” for their peers.

Sissy believes every child deserves recognition for their effort and growth.

“You try your hardest and it doesn’t matter if you’re only grown a little bit; it’s a celebration,” she says are words she tries to instill in her students. “The small things are really not that small sometimes.”

“You have the kids that don’t have to study as much, that always get A’s and that’s great, I’m not taking anything from that at all. But when you have a kid that is always asking for help that finally gets it and they go off to middle school feeling more independent, confident and not needing any help, that is just as big of a victory.”

For Sissy, books and reading are detrimental, which is why she reads to her class consistently. She says what never fails to make her day is when the students watch the corresponding movie afterwards and say they like the book better.

She also says some of the most meaningful moments come years later, when former students return to say hello or share the books they’ve discovered along the way.

Those moments remind her that the small victories she celebrates every day often leave the biggest and most lasting impact.

“I just love it when I get emails or hear from the kids after they move on,” Sissy says. We have a senior alumni walk and that’s always a bunch of tears right there. A lot of the kids come back to you and when they say they really liked your class or you, or when they reach out to recommend a book, it’s a big compliment.”