Jake Craft may be the only teacher at the Burkett Center for the Multi-Handicapped who truly knows what it feels like to be in his students’ shoes.

Craft, who was given a $1,000 new teacher award last week from Alabama Power, is himself a product of a school in Tuscaloosa that’s very similar to the Burkett Center.

As a child, Craft was diagnosed at a very young age with a mild form of cerebral palsy. It affects the right side of his body, but an observer would be hard-pressed to notice, largely because the early diagnosis.

Craft was then enrolled in the RISE School in Tuscaloosa, which he described as “an early intervention pre-school center for children with disabilities.” In that respect, it’s much like Burkett, and Craft is believed to be the first RISE student to go on to teach at a similar school.

“I still have to deal with CP every day. I lean toward might right-hand side on almost everything,” Craft said.

Besides cerebral palsy, Craft had another major injury to overcome in his life — burns suffered when his house in Aliceville. He suffered severe burns over much of his body.

“I spent 56 days in Children’s Hospital in the burn unit,” he said.

Now Craft deals with youngsters like him every day, as he works with 3-year-olds at Burkett.

Dr. Jennifer Kilgo, a professor in early childhood education at UAB, nominated Craft for the Alabama Power award. Craft was one of her students for more than two years before he came to Burkett.

“He was a great 4.0 student — unbelievable,” Kilgo said. “I really believe we can learn so much from him, since he went through early intervention himself.”