Nicole Bollerman

UP Academy Dorchester teacher Nicole Bollerman, 26, at Boston City Hall with her students and Mayor Martin J. Walsh announcing her $150,000 donation to the school on December 22, 2014.

(Garrett Quinn, MassLive)

BOSTON -- Christmas came early for a mid-sized Dorchester elementary school when one of the school's teachers won a $150,000 cash prize and decided to donate it to the school.

Nicole Bollerman, 26, won the Capital One social media campaign #WishForOthers earlier this month with a simple essay about her students at UP Academy Dorchester and what they need in the classroom.

"I'm a third-grade teacher in a low-income, high-risk elementary school in Boston, MA. My #wish for others is that my voracious, adorable, hard-working, loving scholars all leave for their December break with a book in their hand," read her short essay to Capital One.

So, sure enough, Capital One sent her books for all of her students at the recently renamed Marshall Elementary in the Bowdoin/Geneva section of Dorchester and then surprised her as one their grand prize winners of $150,000.

Bollerman, a Connecticut native, immediately knew that she had to give the money to the school.

"It wasn't really a choice," said Bollerman, adding that she wanted to help her pupils do better.

"The money could really better their lives and that's where I want it to go."

The Stonehill graduate worked at a charter school in Washington, D.C. until moving to Boston last year to work at UP Academy Dorchester.

The school has not made any decision on what to do with the money though Bollerman said she'd like to see the school obtain more computers and possibly a greenhouse on the roof of the school.

UP Academy, a private education firm, took over the school in 2013 and instituted rapid reforms to the curriculum and faculty that have pleased parents, teachers, and students. The school's MCAS scores have soared since UP Academy took over the failing school.

The private firm operates four schools in the state including a South Boston middle school. UP is set to take over one of the struggling middle schools in Springfield in the next school year.

