When Mimma-Marie Cammarata was growing up, her parents gave her the nickname maestra. She thought it was their loving way of calling her bossy in their native Sicilian dialect. She now believes that her parents had a premonition that she would eventually live up to the name and find her niche in a profession that she now adores: teaching. For 12 years she has been teaching Italian at Sterling High in Somerdale. “I think they knew before I knew what I was going to be,” Cammarata said in an interview in her classroom this week. “I can’t picture myself doing anything else. I love coming to work.”

Cammarata, 36, was selected by her peers as the Camden County Teacher of the Year for the 2017-18 school year. She is among a field of 21 teachers statewide vying for New Jersey Teacher of the Year, who is to be announced Oct. 4. Also in the competition are Sherrie Wilkins, representing Burlington County, and Domenick Renzi from Gloucester County. Wilkins is a fifth-grade teacher at Alexander Denbo Elementary in Pemberton Township. Renzi teaches basic skills at Wedgewood Elementary in Washington Township.