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The YWCA received many nominations from area residents, but only five will take home the award on April 21. We sat down with a Quincy woman whose work in elementary education placed her in the top five.

"It brought a tear to my eye. It is very humbling. I am a very modest person, so it was a surprise," Sara Cramer said.

Sara Cramer started as an elementary teacher and has moved her way as Principal of Washington Elementary School in Quincy.  Her continued work over the past four years is focused on teaching great leadership skills and ensuring that each student has an opportunity for academic success. Cramer's nominator says she devotes evening and weekends to not only the students at Washington, but also their family's. This is the foundation for which she is being recognized as a "Woman of Educational Excellence."

Sara Cramer's humble demeanor insists that the success at the elementary school is not by her alone.

"I do not feel that it is all on me. It is right there in the classrooms, in the trenches. I try to challenge them and give suggestions but it is the teachers doing it. We work together as a team," Cramer said.

Cramer has been an essential component of bringing many programs into Washington School including the Seven Covey Habits. These life skills teach children valuable leadership that many of the students do not learn at home. This YWCA award represents women in local school systems that excel in healing children living in poverty or who are at-risk to reach a high level of academic potential. Washington Elementary has one of the highest poverty rates in Quincy.

"It is a blessing. I am so fortunate that our families that I work with, that I get to share their children with them. We create leaders that will go out into the community and make Quincy and wherever they land in the future a better place because of the nurturing environment that we provide here at Washington School," Cramer said.