The father of one teacher was always there for her, helping with everything from big dreams to classroom art. When he died suddenly in Marc...
.jpg "Teacher reveals heartbreaking reason for her ocean-themed classroom (exclusive)")
The father of one teacher was always there for her, helping with everything from big dreams to classroom art. When he died suddenly in March 2025, that steady presence was gone.
To make her classroom feel nice and welcoming before each new school year, fourth-grade teacher Dakota Chance in Mississippi has done this every year for the past three years.
Chance tells PEOPLE only, "I always give my classroom my all." "I know that some of my students don't get the love and support they need at home, so I work hard to make my classroom a safe and calm place where they always feel welcome."
Sharing the finished product with her father Eddie, who was her biggest fan and celebrated every step of her journey as a teacher, was always her favorite part of the routine.
However, the 22-year-old's life changed in March 2025 when her father died suddenly at the age of 61 from a severe sickness that was first thought to be the stomach flu.
As the oldest child, it broke her heart to have to take him off of life support after doctors found that his intestines and stomach were failing and his kidneys were beginning to shut down.
"I could always count on him, no matter what. He was my first best friend." Chance talks about her late father: "He was so kind and helpful, and he loved to laugh."
"He felt safe at the beach and in the ocean." "He was happiest in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where we lived for years," she says. "He loved to fish and could spend hours by the water. The waves always made him feel calm."
She decided to honor his memory with a sea-themed classroom in August, when she was getting ready for the new school year.
Chance says, "I brought the ocean into my second home, my classroom." I feel like I carry a piece of him with me every day. I hope that the ocean can give my kids the same peace and comfort that it gave him.
Chance turned to social media to find the support and connection he used to give her so freely now that she didn't have him to share pictures or videos with.
"My dad loved it when I sent him my finished classroom." This is my first year without him. "Please pretend to be him in the comments," she wrote under a recent TikTok video of her classroom that got over 700,000 views and over 10,000 positive comments.
It was important to me to tell him everything because he was one of my biggest fans. She said, "I always knew that if I needed someone to help me, it would be him." "That wasn't different before I became a teacher."
One of the hardest things she had ever done was become a first-year teacher. But knowing that her dad was cheering her on made it a little easier.
She would have a "big reveal" every year of how she had arranged her classroom. It was a lot like how she used to show her dad her bedroom when she was a kid. He never rushed the moment. Instead, he would carefully notice every little thing she had done to make the room her own.
Chance remembers, "He loved being a part of my life and would always end every phone call with, 'Tell the kids I said hi and have a great day.'" "Every day, he made sure I knew how proud he was of me."
Since her dad was so happy and calm, it made sense to decorate her classroom with sea themes.
"This year, my classroom is full of all the things he loved, like sharks on the wall and jellyfish hanging from the ceiling. But love is the most powerful thing that reminds me of him in my classroom," she says.
"He loved everyone he met; no one who met my dad could say he wasn't kind."
Chance had a very hard time losing a parent when she was only 21 years old, but she feels his presence every day when she goes into her classroom.
She knows that he would want her to keep going...to love and inspire her students just like he did with everyone in his life, but especially with his own three kids.
Her father worked in restaurants and built a job with his hands for years before becoming a teacher, but he always told her to strive for more.
"The best thing for a parent is for their child to do better than they did," Chance says. "That's exactly what my dad did."
He was always behind her, even when her high school grades didn't show how smart she was. He believed she should go to college.
"If you had asked my dad and me when I was 16 if I was going to be a teacher, I probably wouldn't have believed you," she says.
"But my dad always had faith in me." He'd say, "I knew she could do it" if you told him I was a wealthy singer. Because he always stood by me, I became the teacher and person I am today.
Still, the last five months have been some of the worst in her life. There are times when Chance really wants to call her dad to tell him about something important that happened, but she can't.
She wants to hear him say, "I'm proud of you," every time she does something good, like finishing her classroom earlier in August or getting into her master's program. She would do anything to hear those words one more time.
Chance says, "My dad taught me that everyone deserves a chance to grow and thrive and that anyone, no matter what, can still change the world." "He poured every ounce of love he had into my siblings, my mother, his mother, his sister, everyone he ever met, and me. Everday, I try to pour every ounce of love I have into my students."