Michelle Ferre, 24, has a passion for running, and has a passion for teaching.
Because of the love she has for both the fourth-grade teacher at Crofton Elementary in Maryland gets to live out her dream. Running the Boston Marathon on Monday is the opportunity of a lifetime.
"To me I think of the Super Bowl for runners," she said. "It is just the biggest honor to ever be able to run in that race."
"I am already nervous," she added. "I'm already thinking about it. For me it's just an opportunity to represent my school, represent my students and get to share it with them."
Ferre is part of team Hyland's, which is one of the sponsors of the Boston Marathon. She's one of 13 teachers that were picked to be on the team from a pool of 1,600 applicants.
Her students surprised her with the news at school. Part of the reason she was chosen is because of her alter ego.
"Pocketful of Primary is a brand name that I go by as a teacher online," said Ferre.
Her YouTube channel, where she posts videos about teaching, has over 100,000 subscribers.
"For me it was a way to kind of create my own community of teachers to surround myself with and get inspiration from them and just really support each other when we need it," she said.
And she's making a difference across the country.
"About a year ago I actually started a hashtag on Instagram '#pocketfulofpositivity' because I noticed among teachers sometimes there's a lot of negativity with everything we have going on," she said. "So, I wanted to be able to spread a positive message among teachers."
Every time someone uses the hashtag, Ferre donates $1 to 'DonorsChoose.org', a website that helps teachers get tools and resources for their classrooms. So far she has donated $650.
Her dream of running the Boston Marathon will be realized on Monday then she'll go back to helping her fourth-graders in Crofton realize theirs one day at a time.
"I've got nothing but positive support from my kids," said Ferre. "The parents and my team teachers, my administrators, they've all been nothing but supportive."
