Alexia Perkins’ elementary school classroom is like no other that you’ve probably seen before. The York County School Division teacher spends days before the start of each school year, with help from friends and family, turning it into a vibrant, colorful learning space for her students. Affectionately known as Perky Pupil Land, it is a space that encourages students to be engaged and experience the fun of learning.
Her physical classroom space is as important to her as her teaching style — one that is fun, approachable, and personal. It is a style she learned from her fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Bryant, the person who inspired her to become a teacher.
“It was in her fifth grade class, she made me feel loved,“ Perkins explained. ”She made me feel appreciated. She made me feel valued. I felt like I was a one of one. I felt like there was no one else in my class but me. Her spirit, her kindness, her happiness, it inspired me from that day on. I wanted to be a Mrs. Bryant.“
She was working a job in the corporate realm and paying her way through community college when she decided to pursue her dream of being in the classroom. Her first position was as a para-educator. She faced many obstacles as she pursued her education to become a certified teacher. She even lost her mom to cancer while she was in school. But, she says, perseverance was a part of her learning journey and one that she is now able to pass on to her students.
When our WHRO Public Media team caught up with her to film her story, we learned the school had arranged for her former fifth grade teacher to be there also. The two have maintained a strong relationship throughout Perkins’ journey.
“When I see Alexia in here, it's like I see myself 30 years ago,” Bryant said. “That's what I see, and I'm so proud and so excited for her. I really am, because she's touching children's lives, and that's what we want to do.”
Bryant has retired but still stays busy as an educator through volunteer work with students and mentoring other teachers.
It was no surprise to the team when Mrs. Bryant jumped in and began helping students with their in-class activity. Whether she was providing an answer to a question or a gentle hug, the students seemed right at home — something Perkins said she aims to cultivate.
“What I want is for this classroom to be a family,” she said. “I would like to send that out into the community, that we are a family here. We are loved. I want this to be a space that they never forget for those reasons.”
Just as Bryant instilled love and confidence into her students, Perkins is carrying on that tradition with new generations inside Perky Pupil Land. If she can be to even one student what Mrs. Bryant was to her, she said, then she feels she has fulfilled her calling.
View more photos from Perky Pupil Land:
This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and WHRO would like to thank all Virginia teachers for their hard work and dedication.
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