ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brittany Duquaine, or Ms. Duquaine as her first grade students call her, might spend more time in the classroom than she does in her own home.

“My students mean everything to me and their families. I’m constantly in contact with them. I love seeing them and I love hearing about what they want to do and I love seeing them succeed,” said Duquaine.

To her, that is probably even more valuable than the paycheck.

“Obviously we’re in education not for the money. We are in it to help the students,” said Duquaine.

The same goes for her colleagues at Lakewood Elementary School in St. Petersburg.

Over the last three years, Principal Renee Nellenbach says they have worked tirelessly to bring the school from an F grade to an A grade.

“We spent a lot of time developing our curriculum with our coaches, the administrative team and the teachers working together to making sure we understood the data as we collected it,” said Nellenbach.

And that hard work has not gone unnoticed.

Governor Ron DeSantis spoke about Duquaine during his 2022 State of the State address on Tuesday, acknowledging her accomplishments and the success of Lakewood Elementary.

“It was definitely an honor and I’m definitely proud,” said Duquaine.

Governor DeSantis first met Duquaine in the beginning of the school year when he stopped by Lakewood Elementary to announce he was offering $1,000 bonus checks to all state teachers.

Duquaine is using that money to help further her own education, so she can help further her students’ education.

“I was telling my principal, I had kids who didn’t know how to read and now they’re reading at a third grade level and I taught them that. It’s a great feeling to see them and know they’re going to do well because they have a good foundation,” said Duquaine.

She says she can support her students because she too feels support as their teacher.

And hearing the governor speak her name felt like an A+ for the entire Lakewood community.

“It was about our students, our families and all the teachers are Lakewood Elementary and all the hard work that they did. I was just a representation of that,” said Duquaine.