When Mattawan Middle School won a prestigious award last fall, it wasn’t for a new program or a single employee. The School of Distinction award bestowed on the west Michigan school recognized a building-wide team-based commitment to students built over two decades. This week Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II visited Mattawan Middle in Van Buren […]
Retired educator Isabell Nazar could not mathematically pinpoint the positive effects of a new law that will save her pension from being taxed; instead the former 38-year middle school science teacher from rural Homer in Calhoun County declared, “It will improve my life to the nth degree.” A board member of MEA-Retired, Nazar was among […]
By Chandra Madafferi I feel optimistic when meeting first-year educators, who tell me they are excited and ready to face the future. Many say they still chose to go into the profession despite others trying to talk them out of it. These are educators we desperately need to keep – for the sake of our […]
By Heather Palo MEA ARP Organizer Last year MEA member Marissa Rodriguez took ninth graders on a tour of World War I trenches, and she transported sixth graders to countries where certain products began the manufacturing process – then brought them across the globe to watch those consumer items journey to store shelves. A social […]
Opal Wong left the classroom in 1994 after 37 years in East Lansing schools, but the MEA-Retired educator and certified Brain Gym instructor never stopped using movement to teach children. Now 90, she shares how knowing the brain-body connection can help educators help young people. Did you always want to be a teacher? I never […]
This fall MEA member Arshen Baldwin was honored by the NAACP Saginaw Branch with its 2023 Young Professionals Award for playing multiple roles to improve her community – nearly 20 years after she took one of the hardest routes toward becoming a teacher. Baldwin started out as an untrained substitute in a classroom where her […]
Growing up in the mid-Michigan town of Ithaca, Bethany Fletcher enjoyed small-town life and learning from great teachers in close-knit schools. She dreamed of becoming an educator and returning to work and raise a family in her hometown – and that wish came true. An MEA member over the past 13 years, Fletcher was teaching […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: We are saddened to share news of the passing of Juwan Willis on Jan. 2, and we send deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and students. View Juwan’s obituary where you can also share a tribute or memory with the family. By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Juwan Willis is a man […]
Teaching is hard. Being a student is hard. It’s important for mental and physical health to remember to still have fun, so we are highlighting fun activities enjoyed by Aspiring Educators of Michigan (AEM) and Michigan New Educators (MiNE) members across the state. In July, Aspiring Educator leaders from college campuses throughout Michigan came together […]
As 2023 comes to a close, we have so much to celebrate as educators and believers in the promise of public education. Together with the friends of education we helped to elect, we’ve accomplished so much in Lansing for our students, our schools and our colleagues. Record levels of funding for PK-12, community colleges and [...]
