Elementary school teacher Melissa Kmetz has been named as her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Ohio State Department of Education

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional teachers who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. Today, I shine a spotlight on Melissa Kmetz, an elementary school teacher from Cortland, Ohio. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Melissa was raised in Campbell, Ohio, where she graduated from Campbell Memorial High. At the time of her graduation, she earned a full academic scholarship to Youngstown State University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, summa cum laude, in 2003. She earned a Master’s degree as a Reading Specialist from Youngstown in 2007. That year, she earned the ETS Recognition of Excellence award. She has also completed courses at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Once she earned her degree, Melissa inaugurate her career as an educator in Salem, Ohio, where she taught first grade. While there, she garnered a Martha Holden Jennings Grant to Educators, which she used to fund a literacy lending library. Later she relocated to Lakeview Local Schools, where she has been teaching ever since. In all, her career as a professional educator spans 20 years.

Currently, Melissa teaches third grade at Lakeview Elementary School, where she has been since 2006. She has a reputation for being a strong advocate for culturally diverse curriculum, global education, and student activism. In fact, in 2010, the honored teacher developed a Change the World Project in her school district. Through this project, for the past 12 years, Melissa’s students have been activists, developing charitable projects to benefit those in need both in their community and abroad. Over the years, these projects have included support globally to help those experiencing hunger, offering assistance to individuals impacted by natural disasters, helping to grant the wishes of terminally ill children, creating comfort kits for children in foster care, and supporting local animal shelters.

Melissa can really see the value in these projects. “It’s just really getting them to see that their hard work can reach out into the community and also other countries, as well,” she asserts. “That there’s a reason they’re doing everything. Not just that ‘A’ on a paper, but that they can use what they know to make the world a better place,” she concludes.

Indeed, Melissa.