ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — Cindy Roach finds joy in guiding young minds. There is no place she’d rather be than in the classroom helping her students grow and thrive.

Roach is head of the class at Hans Christian Andersen Elementary School in Rockledge.

“I’m just trying to create happy, well-adjusted people that can read well and will be good members of society, and hopefully in the future, they can look back and remember second grade and the fun they had and the friends they had,” she said.

Roach remembers the moment she was inspired to pursue a career in the classroom.

“I was a stay-at-home mom, and I had two kids, and I was helping my daughter. I did Girl Scouts with her and so I really enjoyed it and I found that I really enjoyed working with kids and I really wanted to get into that more, so I went back to college and became a teacher,” she said.

With over two decades of teaching experience, she knows she made the right decision to follow her heart.

“My son started first grade the year I started teaching, and he’s a doctor now. I’m very proud of him,” Roach said.

There’s just something about teaching second-graders she really enjoys, too.

“I found that it’s really fun working with the little ones, you know. They’re so sweet and they need that help. If you can help them when they’re younger, they’ve got those reading skills and they’re going to be more successful,” she explained.

She said it’s important that her students look forward to learning there.

“In second grade, they should enjoy coming to school. There shouldn’t be a thing where they’re like, ‘Oh, I can’t stand to be there.’ It should be a happy place. Learning is important. We have to learn,” Roach said. “It’s a hard balance because you want it to be a fun place, but chaos is crazy, too.”

She said she wants to make sure each student has the foundation and the tools to be successful.

“And to believe in themselves and to love themselves because to be successful in life, you really need to be a happy person and positive,” Roach said.