"She makes a strong, positive difference at Coal Tyee School," Grade 5/6 teacher Paul Grey wrote when he nominated Jenny Webb as today's Neighbourhood Hero.

"In the classroom she helps with both large and small tasks from organizing major fundraisers, to working in the school library, to dissecting eyeballs."

"Dissecting eyeballs?" I said to Jenny shortly after I reached her on the phone. "How does a parent/volunteer end up dissecting eyeballs ... and whose eyeballs were they anyway?"

It turns out that they were sheep's eyeballs and Jenny was just the person to show the students how to dissect them. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from UBC with a major in zoology so she soon had her dissecting kit at the ready and the kids couldn't wait to get started ... seeing, feeling, squeezing ... all the time overcoming fears and enjoying the process of inquisitive discovery.

"Kids today are just so far ahead of the game," Jenny enthused. "I didn't do things like that until I was in university."

By the way, although the kids loved the project, the parents who dropped by found the eyeballs just a little too "squishy" for them.

With the success of the "Great Eyeball Adventure" under her belt, Jenny next helped the kids dissect a bunch of squid - or should that be a flock, a school or a gaggle of squid? A cooking class followed this exercise. They made calamari. Don't you just love it?

After graduating from UBC, Jenny met her husband, Paul, in Vancouver. However, when they married and were ready to have children - They have a son, Matthew, in Grade 2 and a daughter, Kelsey, in Grade 5 - they chose to move to Nanaimo because they felt this is a good place to raise a family and get involved with their education ... and she certainly has got involved.

The other day as she walked into the school, Colleen Gale, the school secretary, looked up and said, "Hi Jenny. Your cot's in the room".

"I think she might be right," Jenny laughed. "All I'd have to do is bring my jammies and my teddy bear and I'd be right at home in this school."

Jenny realizes how privileged she is to be able to withdraw from the "for pay" workforce to concentrate on raising her kids ... and that's exactly what she does, concentrate on raising her kids.

"I don't sew, knit or make jams or jelly's," she says. So there, you see, she ain't perfect.

Although it's definitely easier said than done, here's Jenny's advice to those families that don't have the luxury of leaving one parent at home to focus full-time on raising the kids.

"Let the laundry and dishes go -- I'm thinking; spend as much time as you can with your kids now. Everything else can wait."

That said, if she doesn't go to Malaspina to get her Education Degree, the time might soon be coming when Jenny will be looking for a part-time job, one that will allow her to be at home when the kids leave for school and when they come back home.

"Probably something pretty mundane," she mused, "something that will provide a little extra income and more adult stimulation for me."

So if you're looking for a part-time employee ...

By the way Jenny describes, Paul Grey, the person who nominated her, as "a progressive teacher and a fabulous man, a man who is definitely ahead of his time in the field of education."

I know Paul and I couldn't agree more. You can add his name to our list of Neighbourhood Heroes.