Britini D'Angelo, a special education teacher at Henry J. Kalfas Elementary School in Niagara Falls, has been selected as Kleenex's 2026 National Hero of the Classroom. The recognition includes a $10,000 personal prize, a $5,000 donation to her school and enough Kleenex tissues to supply the entire building for a year.
D'Angelo has spent the past three years teaching at Kalfas, bringing a personal understanding of special education to her classroom. Her commitment to the profession draws on experiences that began long before she considered becoming a teacher. “I love my job more than I can express in words,” she said. “This is what I am meant to do for the rest of my life.”
Diagnosed with autism at 22 months old, D'Angelo said she was nonverbal, did not make eye contact, displayed repetitive stims and lacked social cues. She received support from a one-to-one aide through the end of first grade. Throughout that period, she said, a group of people worked daily to advocate for her individualized education program, or IEP.
The people who supported D'Angelo helped shape her development and inspired her to work with children facing experiences similar to her own. She now sees advocating for her students as central to her role. “I want the absolute best for them every single day, and as their advocate, we are going to make sure that happens,” she said.
Assistant teacher Najah Peterson described D'Angelo as someone who understands her students and consistently places children and the school first. Peterson also praised her kindness and willingness to help others. Beyond the classroom, D'Angelo has attracted a substantial online following, with 215,000 followers on Instagram and 679,000 on TikTok.
D'Angelo plans to put her own prize money in the bank and save it. She expressed particular excitement about the school's $5,000 award, saying Kalfas could use the funding and that she looked forward to seeing how it would be spent.
The tissue supply has also begun arriving. D'Angelo said she had received about 15 boxes in the first delivery. Although she was unsure whether subsequent shipments would arrive monthly or every two weeks, she described those boxes as the first installment of the school's yearlong supply.
