INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — WISH-TV celebrates extraordinary teachers in central Indiana with the WISH-TV Golden Apple Award. It comes with a trophy, a school supply shopping spree to Teachers’ Treasures, and a surprise visit from the News 8 team.

• Nominate a deserving teacher for the Golden Apple Award!

September’s Golden Apple Award winner is Ms. Gema Camarasa. She goes by Sita and has been teaching in the Spanish Immersion Program in the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township for 20 years. Recently her students started calling her the “TikTok Teacher.”

At Lawrence North High School, the Spanish Immersion program is trending. But the students  will tell you, there’s only one teacher going viral.

“She loves TikTok,” Eleanor Ising said. 

Eleanor is a junior and has had Sita as a teacher in both middle and high school. She says her love of connecting with students shines on TikTok.

“She loves to make TikToks with her students,” Ising said. “I’ve never been in one. She’ll make them in class sometimes or in the hallways. I think it’s a great way for her to like interact with students. And so that’s been super fun.”

Camarasa is known as a storyteller both in the classroom, around the halls and on social media.

“Someone had called her the ‘TikTok Teacher,’” Eleanor said.

In her 25 years of teaching, staff says she meets students where they are at.

“(They build) those connections, because that’s something that they like to do,” fellow Spanish teacher Sydni Jennings said. “She says, hey, let’s make a Tiktok. They’ll try to teach her the dance. It’s a crazy, funny process, but it’s beautiful.”

Jennings won the September Golden Apple award last year. In fact, we talked to Sita then, because she was Jenning’s teacher growing up and inspired her to get into education. Now the two teach Spanish at Lawrence North.

“Finally, she’s getting the recognition that she deserves,” Jennings said about Sita. “She’s just so deserving. You know, she gives so much love.”

Jennings was one of 37 people to nominate Sita for the award. Most of them were students.

Jennings says that’s because along with Sita’s daughter, these kids are her top priority.

“She really cares about her students as people first and foremost and then all the academics come. But that’s her at her core. She loves people and she loves heart and it’s shown through how she teaches and how she shows up every single day,” Jennings said.

Students say her ability to connect with kids, has everyone flocking to her classroom.

“Words can’t explain what Sita means for us. And not only me, but a lot of students, I know she means a lot to them,” Lawrence North senior Maria Amariaosuna said.

“Honestly, if I didn’t have a class with her, I would still go back and be like, ‘Hey, Sita, how are you doing?’” Amariaosuna said.

Sita shows students across the school that she cares about them. She often spends time with the Exceptional Learners Program and stops by their “Grind Coffee Shop” daily.

School leaders say she has an exceptional academic impact, too.

Carolyn Moen is the World Language Department Chair at Lawrence North. She said, “She gets incredible scores on the AP tests. One of the best test results that we had this entire school year. So that was an awesome win for her and for our department, and for our kids, most importantly.

She says students chose Sita to speak at their graduation last year. Plus, two of the 11 teachers in the Spanish Immersion Program at the school are her former students.

It’s her personality that hooks kids into education here.

“She is loud. She is crazy. She is fun, but she’s loving. She is everything that you would want in a teacher,” Moen said.

That’s why the WISH-TV team went to surprise Sita with the Golden Apple Award. She recognized Hanna Mordoh and the team right away and was speechless.

After watching a surprise video from students and staff, Sita was in tears.

“I feel that what I do matters, you know, because I wake up every day full of energy. They know — especially first thing in the morning, just for them. They’re my life. They keep me going. They take care of me. I take care of them, and this is like family. And so this is, this is actually great for me to keep going another 30 years,” Sita said.

Because showing you care is in the steps you take. Beyond the classroom and social media. That’s what makes a TikTok teacher go viral.

“It’s just love, you know, when you do everything with love, you just keep going,” Sita said.

To hear more from Sita and her students, watch the video above.

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