JARRELL, Texas (KXAN) — A Jarrell Independent School District middle school teacher is a quarterfinalist in a national teachers competition.

Alexandria Krause is a teacher for sixth grade leadership and success at Jarrell Middle School. She’s also currently in seventh place within the quarterfinals of the America’s Favorite Teacher competition.

Krause said she saw an advertisement for the competition while scrolling on Facebook and applied on a whim. A few months later, she heard back that she had been admitted into the competition.

“I was like, ‘alright, let’s give this a shot,'” Krause told KXAN. “And so here we are now. I did not think that I would be as far as I am.”

Competing teachers are vying for a $25,000 prize, a trip to Hawaii and an appearance in Reader’s Digest. For Krause, she said she’s motivated to help put Jarrell on the map nationally.

“I love the community. We’re very small, we’re very close-knit,” she said. “We’re growing. We have a lot of construction going on in the area, we are in the middle of building a ton of new schools, and we’re just on the rise. And I hope that this kind of helps us rise above even more.”

Krause said she’s fueled by her work helping middle schoolers mold themselves into the kinds of people they want to be, pursuing their passions and planning for the future. Some of her class work centers around teaching students planning and organizational skills, entrepreneurship and options for their future career paths — be that college, trade school professions, the military or other routes.

For her, she said she’s striving to be the kind of teacher she wanted most as a kid.

“I always grew up wanting somebody who was as close knit to me like I am with these students. I pride myself on the personal relationships — you would be surprised what these kids are going through,” she said. “And they’re not looking for advice. They’re not looking for your opinion. Sometimes they’re not even looking for help. They’re just looking for somebody to actually listen to them.”

Should Krause come in first place and receive the $25,000 prize, she wants to allocate a portion of those winnings to Jarrell Middle School’s junior high Bible study for seventh and eight graders. Many of those participating students don’t have their own Bibles; Krause has been paying out-of-pocket to buy snacks for students so they don’t get hungry.

“It’s become very daunting and financially, that would help a lot of I were to win the contest. And who doesn’t like a trip to the beach as well?” she said.

Since advancing in the competition, she joked that she’s become a bit of a “rock star” in students’ eyes, with some who aren’t even in her classes coming up and saying hello. But mainly, she sees this competition as a way to bring some levity to the district — particularly after Jarrell ISD student Brooklynn Miller passed away from bone cancer in the fall.

“My Bible study girls, they were all best friends with her. She was a great athlete, and it was just such a sudden loss,” Krause said. “We’ve been dealing with a lot of emotional distress surrounding that. And so, honestly… I’m doing this for Brooklynn Miller and Brooklynn Miller’s foundation.”

Voting for America’s Favorite Teacher semi-finals ends on Thursday at 9 p.m. CT. More details on Krause and how to vote for her is available online.