Jennifer Hudson loves to shine a light on extraordinary teachers who dedicate their lives to educating and inspiring their students.

“The Jennifer Hudson Show” has featured the stories of remarkable teachers, principals, and professors who go above and beyond in the name of leading the next generation to greatness.

Check out the best moments of teachers on the show!

Shumsheia Johnson has been teaching at Jackson Park Elementary in St. Louis, Missouri. The teacher of 24 years told JHud that she would do anything for her students.

“Although God gave me one biological child, I have 15 current students. They are my babies. They are mine,” she said.

“Whatever they need, if I’ve got it, I’m gonna give it. If I don’t have it, I’m gonna figure it out between my family, the school district, whoever — we’re gonna give it to them.”

Yolanda Turner has taught at Sumner High School in Tampa, Florida, for 23 years. A video was posted on Twitter showcasing a dance battle between Ms. Turner and a student, and within a week of being posted, the video was seen by over 5 million people!

“I’m humbled by the experience, because it’s developed into something more than dancing,” she told JHud. “It’s about finding ways of meeting your students where they are. So, whatever encourages them… it’s what I do. It’s where my calling is, my superpower. If it brings joy, I’m with it.”

Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova teaches physics at Texas A&M University. Her engaging lectures and over-the-top science experiments have always been a hit with her students, but she’s now loved by people all over the world thanks to videos of her engaging experiments going viral on TikTok!

“I like what I teach and try to share my excitement with the students,” she wrote on her teacher profile for Texas A&M.

“Despite the growing size of the classes, ‘I never teach a class, I teach a student,’” she writes. “My favorite quote from students’ evaluations is ‘I can’t help but see physics everywhere I go now. It’s pretty neat.’”

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McKenna Reitz, a high school teacher from Detroit, Michigan, told Jennifer Hudson that she thought she was suffering from postpartum hair loss when she discovered she has alopecia.

McKenna shared how she questioned how she’d be a mother and whether her husband would love her when she found out she has alopecia but found herself with an incredible support system.

“I felt like my identity was being ripped away from me. As a woman, we subconsciously connect ourselves to our hair,” she said.

“I always questioned, how am I gonna be a mom? How is my husband still going to love me? How are my students going to react to this? How am I going to continue living this way?”

Through the support of her friends, family, and students, McKenna realized that neither her hair nor her disease defines who she is as a person.

“We all have a storm,” she said. “Mine just happens to be visible. And you have two choices: Either allow it to define you, or you define it. And I made a decision to define it.”

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Born and raised in the South Side of Chicago, Christian Mahone was a teacher for six years before he became the principal of South Side Elementary.

“I like to call it ‘The Starship,’” he told JHud about this school. “Our school mascot is the Superstar, so I like to call it ‘The Starship’ because we’re navigating troubled waters.”

Christian said the thing he loves the most about teaching is “working with my students.”

He regularly pays out of his own pocket to make sure his students have opportunities and makes sure they “feel important.”

“Everyone in the field of education does that,” he said. “I don’t think twice about it because I was also one of those kids who grew up not having a lot. But my parents always made sure we had the basic needs.”

Mike Huss started his career as a janitor at Ione Elementary in Jackson, California — the school he attended as a child — but was offered a teaching job when colleagues recognized his hard work.

After years as a teacher, Huss spent hours preparing to teach the fifth grade over the summer but was offered the principal role a week before school resumed.

“My students are like my own children,” he told JHud. “I want to be there when they succeed and be there through their struggles. My own two children say it feels like I have 500 brothers and sisters. I go on bike rides with them.”

JHud shocked Traci Owens and her children Tia and Nicolas when she introduced them as guests on her show! Jennifer learned that Traci has been a teacher for over 30 years and currently teaches the second grade. Sadly, the family fell on hard times during the COVID-19 pandemic and are living with friends.

However, the family has not lost their charitable spirit and has helped the homeless by making them toiletry bags for the fall season.

“Being a teacher, that’s what I do all the time — give back,” she told JHud.

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