SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — The Sioux City Community School District announced their Teacher of the Year Wednesday.

The school district named Gennifer Paul-Fetterman as the recipient of the award. She’s a Title 1 Interventionist at Morningside STEM Elementary School. District officials said she’s had to overcome unbelievable obstacles.

Paul-Fetterman was diagnosed in July of 2021 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia which is a cancer of the bone marrow and blood. She took entire school year off during 2022 for treatment.

“Just trying to teach the kids that you know life isn’t always fair and you’re thrown like curveballs, and you just push past it, you just continue to fight for what you believe in. And I have such a strong passion for teaching that I knew that once I was done with my treatments, I wanted to get back to what was normal for me, my normal life and that’s working with children,” said Paul-Fetterman.

Her older brother was her stem cell donor and is in remission. She’s currently in the running for Iowa Department of Education’s Teacher of the Year Award which will be announced in Fall 2023.