When students at Mattoon High School find their scholastic career coming to an end, they are expected to give their future career a title and hope that it lasts a lifetime. Yet, these same students sometimes have difficulty picking out trivial, everyday tasks. If picking out what to eat for lunch is difficult, how will it be picking out a college or career?  
Although choosing a career with a comfortable income seems a factor of higher significance, another factor is equally as important: passion for the job. For Ingrid Minger (formerly McCallister), seventh-grade reading teacher at Mattoon Middle School, this difficult decision was easily solved. Minger’s career has met its happy medium; she is now spending her lifelong career with a combination of her two passions, reading and teaching. Minger was recently pronounced the “Illinois Reading Educator of the Year.” Her accomplished award should be a relief to students who are conflicted with choices of careers and colleges. The experience of Minger shows that even if a career itself has not met its perfection, a passionate worker has no limits. 
MHS junior Adi Newcomb has witnessed the work and integrity of Minger as a prior student in her classroom. However, Newcomb has a unique relationship with Minger; she has known and established a friendship with Minger long before her teaching career was pursued. 
“She’s very enthusiastic and ready to teach about anything. She actually cares about teaching; she’s not in it for [the] money. She’s found her niche,” said Newcomb. 
Close friend and coworker Monica Genta, seventh-grade science teacher at MMS, is pleasured to share the teaching experiences with her friend. Minger served as Genta’s mentor the first year of her teaching chapter at MMS. At this opportunity, Minger’s teaching efficiency touched Genta. The pair has been friends for four years and counting. 
“It is awesome having a teacher and friend like her across the hall,” said Genta. “[She] is great with kids. Her blend of different styles appeals to students and makes sure every child has an opportunity to learn.”
The basis of the award Minger has won recognizes outstanding teachers who affectively promote literature and reading among students, and according to Genta, this award is not shy of what Minger deserves. 
“Minger has earned this award. She is the epitome of a great reading teacher. Minger is an upbeat, happy educator. She loves reading, and it really shows in her classroom,” she said. However, Minger is humbled to receive this award and plans to implement her experiences from the achievement in order to become a better teacher.
“[This award] may allow me to meet many other educators.  When meeting other teachers, I always enjoy hearing about what they do in their own classrooms to instill the love of reading in students and to engage students on a deeper level with text,” said Minger.
The influences that teachers have on their students have a larger effect than claimed. A simple, seventh-grade prerequisite class can be life changing, and for Minger, that’s entirely what it was. 
Minger knew teaching was what she wanted to do in seventh grade, and as many parallelisms start to appear between her aspiration and current life, she was touched by her favorite teacher, Al Krietemeier. 
“[Krietemeier] has played such an integral role in my life in teaching me how to love reading and that teaching extends far beyond the four walls of a classroom as you help encourage students to become lifelong learners,” said Minger. 
There are many aspects Minger loves about reading. From its natural escapism to whole new worlds and characters, Minger feels that the opportunities provided while reading a book are endless.  
“I would like my students to be able to develop this interest and appreciation for reading as it can be such an integral aspect of a well-rounded life,” said Minger.
 Above all, Minger’s passion and work ethic are what present her with her unique opportunities and achievements as an educator. Finally, her work as a reading educator is not the only way Minger has touched the lives of others. For Newcomb, the quality she appreciates the most is her cheerful personality. Whether Minger’s students cheerful or gloomy, Newcomb believes that Minger has the power to brighten her students’ moods. 
“She’s like Mary Poppins. She loves everybody. She encourages you to be a better person. She’s so happy, and it makes you want to be happy,” said Newcomb. “Her personality is fitting for a teacher.”
Genta has enjoyed her experience with Minger at MMS, and after several years of partnering with her coworker, Newcomb and Genta share similar appreciation for her charming and charismatic personality. 
“My favorite thing about Minger is her huge heart. She has passion for everything she does and it shows. It is so wonderful working with a teacher like her. Her attitude towards everything is positive and it brings a good energy to the team,” said Genta. 
Minger’s expectations are set high, yet never let down as a teacher. As said by Newcomb, this is her niche; Minger has found the career she loves that most spend their lifetimes searching for. 
“One of the most fulfilling aspects of teaching reading is when I overhear students telling each other about books they have read and enjoyed and that I get to help instill a lifelong passion for reading in students,” said Minger. 
Minger’s work as an educator was not stopped as education constantly undergoes several reforms. While in the profession that changes the most, Minger has succeeded in installing a love for reading program inside the brains of her students, completing the entire purpose for teaching. As students begin their career selection, if they follow the path of passion as Minger did, perhaps they can fill the aspiration in the heart of doing what they love to do. At the end of the day, to Minger, it’s not about money, but the love and passion. 
With one final thought, Minger relates her decisions to stories she has read in literature.
“In my class this past week, we read a short story about Sarah Winchester and the Winchester Mansion, with the moral of the story being money doesn’t buy happiness,” said Genta. “This stands true in real life – in my opinion, you must be happy with what you do in order to achieve true happiness.”