By Brenda Ortega and Heather Palo MEA Staff It was mid-August, the dog days of last summer, and MEA member Matt Hamilton looked like a mayor on parade walking down Main Street in East Jordan, a small town along the Jordan River in northern Michigan’s Charlevoix County where he teaches middle school social studies. The […]
A veteran paraeducator in Reed City and vice president of her local union, Nicki Strach has worked to implement innovative literacy programs while making sure everyone — regardless of behavioral or academic challenges — feels understood, valued and nurtured. For the last five years, Strach’s primary focus has been on emerging students at G.T. Norman […]
Spanish teacher Kaitie Paynich has helped students at Portage Northern High School feel safe and nurtured through her efforts to strengthen the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) club and create a gender-affirming closet and free store open to all. Paynich was chosen to lead the program when it re-started in 2016. “It was super-heartwarming to see […]
A 40-year educator, Brenda Massie has worked for 20 years in Ludington schools where she teaches fifth and sixth grade, supervises the Safety Patrol program, and leads after-school math programs — all in addition to serving as the local union’s chief negotiator and grievance chair since 2010. “My first job is to teach and develop […]
A mid-career math teacher at Lakeview High School in St. Clair Shores, Jamie Hitt co-created and leads the school’s peer-to-peer program — an elective course that brings together general education students and students with special needs to build leadership, empathy and collaboration. Winning a statewide award of excellence brought out many feelings, she said in […]
By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor Kelley Cusmano is the 2024-25 Michigan Teacher of the Year. In February, the Michigan Department of Education announced the 10 Regional Teachers of the Year who are finalists for the 2025-26 MTOY to be announced in May. Important work has been done in Michigan to attract new teachers into […]
MEA member Lindsey Wilson holds a position in Lowell Area Schools that rarely existed in Michigan school districts just five years ago. Wilson is a behavior coach, assigned to address needs of students exhibiting the most challenging classroom behaviors. She doesn’t work directly with children most of the time. Like an instructional coach, she brings [...]
In her three decades as an educator, Hayes Elementary art teacher Christine Lakatos never considered herself an environmentalist. Yet Lakatos and her students at the Westland school for years created art using egg cartons, paper towel tubes and other household items that otherwise get tossed. Under Lakatos’ leadership, Hayes Elementary, part of Livonia Public Schools, [...]
By William Renner Hastings Area Schools We all know one of the greatest joys of teaching is when a light bulb goes on for a student who grasps a new concept for the first time. That’s what I loved about hosting a summer camp for my middle school manufacturing students in Hastings last year. Not […]
MEA member Kossi Komlassan has led soldiers in combat and teenagers in math class. Both of those identities recently came together in one room at Beaverton Junior/Senior High School (BJSHS) when the third-year educator received a promotion in the Michigan Army National Guard in a ceremony before his family, school community, and the sophomores he […]
