Ashley Martinez started at PCCS in 2018 as a Special Education teacher. She attended Elk Grove High School and Eureka College. After college, she was a one-on-one aide to a student with Autism for a year. She taught a life skills ESY program for NSSED for four weeks. For the last six years, she has taught 6th grade Language Arts at Lincoln K-8 in Peoria. She enjoys exercising and partaking in outdoor activities.  She and her husband include their two-year-old son in their outdoor adventures at parks, forest preserves, campsites, nature centers, farmers’ markets, and try to teach him various things through nature. She feels her love for nature will help her assist her students with their special needs in many ways. Her father is Ashley’s role model. He has always taught her to work hard and always be honest even when no one is around. If she could have dinner with anyone in history, Ashley would have dinner with President Lincoln. She would ask him how he was able to persevere through all the challenges, sorrow, and death he faced in his life.