What do you want to be when you grow up?

“I want to be a teacher because I like helping students learn and grow.” – Sophie Wardell, 10, of Helena.

Wardell says her teacher, Ms. Atkinson, helped her to learn and grow by teaching her to never give up.

“I do ballet and sometimes I just want to quit it, but it helps me to know that I don’t need to quit it and that I can just keep moving on until I can be a professional,” she said.

Sophie Wardell said a teacher’s encouragement has taught her not to give up. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

If she could make one rule that everybody in the world had to follow, it would be “to not hurt people.”

“There’s lots of people that hurt other people and I just don’t like that because it’s mean and cruel,” she said.

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama NewsCenter partnership.