Sandi Sellers is Staff Member of the Year at Mill Creek Elementary School. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Mill Creek Elementary School has selected Sandi Sellers as Staff Member of the Year.

Sellers works as an instructional aide for special needs students. She assists children for car line and buses and unloading backpack supplies. “I want students to do this independently, but sometimes they require extra assistance,” Sellers said.

Sellers helps with bathroom visits. “Sometimes, a button or snap can be a little tight and needs an extra push,” she said.

Following the child’s IEP (Individualized Education Program), Sellers accompanies children into general education classes. “I stay in the room and help give individualized instruction, according to my teacher’s plans.”

Her coworker Grace Bates also shares these duties.

Recently, Sellers and one student learned to communicate “through eye gaze and several yes/no questions. It’s as much training for me as the student. The smile I get when I figure out what they’re trying to say is priceless,” Sellers said.

Students, definitely their smiles and hugs, are Seller’s reward in a physically demanding job. “When students … give you a big bear hug, they turn a bad day into a good one,” she said.

“My teacher, Lisa Snyder, is amazing. She has taught me so much. She’s never satisfied with the ‘status quo’. She’s always looking for educational, engaging and fun new ways to teach,” Sellers said.

Sellers has heartfelt connection to her first class from 2010-2011. “I’m still connected to families and love watching their children grow. Once a child of ‘Mrs. Sandi’ … always a child of Mrs. Sandi. Students become my extended family.”

Sellers attended Harding University in Searcy, Ark. for two years, returned home to Atlanta and met husband Ken. She worked until their son’s birth in 1993.

“I was a stay-at-home mom for 17 years and loved it,” Sellers said. During that time, she worked at preschools, including Campus Church of Christ in Norcross, Ga., where she taught music and four-year-olds. Moving to Madison in 2000, she started working at Madison Church of Christ in Mother’s Morning Out.

The Sellers have been married 27 years. Ken works at Baron Weather. Steve, 23, graduated from Auburn University in finance. This fall, Allison, 18, will enroll at the University of North Alabama. Both children are Madison City Schools alumni.