Erica Shook is a 2019 Kanas Teacher of the Year nominee and is currently serving as the English Department Chair at McPherson High School and adjunct instructor of English at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. She is the founder and chair of the Kansas Educators Support Foundation and the vice-president of the Kansas Association of Teachers of English. Shook believes in the importance of building student empathy through literary experiences and that students hold the capacity to be leaders and advocates in their communities, which she encourages and fosters through Project LIT Mac, project/problem-based learning, equity-centered design thinking, and service-learning activities in her classroom. Shook is also passionate about helping educators fuel their own passions by supporting them in their continued professional learning and collaboration.