ST. FRANCISVILLE - Every year the Louisiana Department of Education honors great teachers across the state. This year, the West Feliciana School District nominated Delanea Buffalo, the school's culinary instructor.

"Being nominated by my peers first at West Feliciana High School, [it's the] highest honor to know that the other people you're working alongside with feel you are worthy of that," says Buffalo.

She is the culinary instructor at West Feliciana High School.

Right now the class is learning to make Southwest egg rolls, quesadillas, brownies and cupcakes.

"We get to provide amazing treats and bring joy to our faculty, our staff, our students, our sports programs," Buffalo said.

This is only her fourth year with West Feliciana but she's been teaching for the last 23 years. After two decades on the job, her favorite part remains her students.

She says she has students come back after graduating and thank her for the impact she'd had.

"They come back and they are like, 'I made it through school because of you' or 'I didn't realize you helped me in this way' or 'you inspired me to become what I wanted to be.'"

Those moments, Buffalo said, are the most important for her.