Karen NicksichA nominee for Disney Teacher of the Year, Karen Nicksich was a teacher for 34 years in the BYU/Salt Lake City School District after earning her M.Ed. She also has certificates in gifted and talented education and in English as a Second Language.Karenis very proud of teaching her students to write service learning grants. Her 4th grade class won the State Farm Giving Back Service Award. All her 4th grade students learned how to make and play Native American flutes, and presented a Native American play in which they played the flutes. They also raised money to provide water to Native Americans living in southern Utah. During summer vacations, she developed holistic crystal collars for dogs-chakra collars for well balanced dogs, grounding collars for aggressive dogs, and healing collars for dogs with disease.After moving to Washington twelve years ago, Karen suffered a severe concussion and lost her ability to drive, type, remember recipes, and had no idea who people were. It was clear she could not continue teaching, so she began writing stories about dogs as a way to learn to type again.She won the gold medal from the Wishingshelf Award in the UK, and the bronze medal for Gus Finds His Way Home. She won the bronze medal from the Healthy Living Award for Earth Angels, a photo documentary of specially-abled children, the bronze medal for Gus Makes a New Friend from the Illumination Awards, and the Pinnacle Award for several of her other books. Read More Read Less