When she was in the seventh grade, Boulevard Kindergarten teacher Denice Benton signed up to volunteer at a school for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities in her native Philadelphia. She had no personal connection to anyone with disabilities, she only knew she wanted to help.

Over time, that desire to help led her to study special education as an undergraduate student at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, pursue a master's degree, and ultimately, live a life that's focused on nurturing, both in her day job and in her spare time.

Benton joined Shaker Heights City Schools 17 years ago and has taught nearly every grade over the course of her three decades of teaching. Today, she combiness her expertise in elementary and special education, teaching in a kindergarten inclusion classroom, which includes typically-developing children and children on Individualized Education Programs.

But Benton's desire and knack for helping doesn't stop when she leaves work each day. For the past four years, she's spent Thursday nights at the NICU Step Down Unit at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, holding premature babies --- many with prenatal drug exposure and some small enough to hold in the palm of her hand. "I know that I'm helping the parents who can't be there. Many of them work and I know that if it were my child, I would want someone holding him," she says.

She is also an active member of Fairmount Presbyterian Church. This summer, Benton and her husband, Steve, plan to head to the Dominican Republic for their fifth mission trip with a church-organized group. "It's been life-changing," she explains. "We've partnered with a village and we help them with whatever they need, whether it's building latrines or education. We've been there so many times that we've developed relationships."

Benton reluctantly admits that she's drawn to hobbies and people who need a hand --- she likes to garden and often checks up on elderly neighbors who live alone. "I guess I'm just a nurturing person," she says with a smile.