Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis was teaching first grade the day of the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, and while she is no longer working in a traditional classroom, she is still an educator and speaker.
She teaches at the college level and travels the country sharing her pain and the power of hope.
"In life, we each have a very definite purpose. Mine has always been as an educator," Roig-DeBellis said.
Roig-DeBell was a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. She is considered one of the heroes of that day. She barricaded her entire first-grade class in a bathroom to protect them from a mentally ill gunman. They listened in horror as other teachers and students were killed.
"I am a survivor. I am just like each of you," Roig-DeBellis said.
Since that tragic day four years ago, Roig-DeBellis has dedicated her life to spreading her message about the power of choice and the power of hope. She said she will never move on from Dec. 14, 2012, but has made an important choice.
"That no matter what we go through in our life, we all have trials, tribulations. Hard things happen to each and every one of us. But we can always, in the face of that, choose hope," Roig-DeBellis said.
For her, choosing hope includes sharing her story of recovery. She recently spoke to a crowd at Birmingham Groves High School.
She also started a nonprofit called Classes 4 Classes that teaches grade-school children about kindness and compassion. She also wrote a book called "Choosing Hope," which helps others cope with their own hardship, tragedy and crisis. It's a universal message that resonates with her audience.
"Kaitlin's performance was amazing," Irene Sanchez said. "Something that needs to be told in every school, every auditorium, every college. Every person needs to hear this message of hope."
"You can either let the evil kind of bring you down or you can focus your spirit and your energy on more positive things and just choose hope, like she said," Sherine Marzouk said.
"That's what choosing hope is all about: encouraging people who find themselves in the midst of darkness. We all find ourselves there. To know that they can find the light, you know, it's just a choice they have to make," Roig-DeBellis said.
Roig-DeBellis was invited to speak by Birmingham Public Schools and Wish Upon a Teen. The event raised money to support Wish Upon a Teen's Design My Room program, which gives free room makeovers to teen patients with extended hospital stays due to accident, illness or injury.
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