Melissa Romano named Montana’s 2018 State Teacher of the YearChalkboard champion Melissa Romano, a fourth grade teacher at Four Georgians Elementary School in Helena, Montana, was selected the 2018 Montana State Teacher of the Year by the Montana Professional Teaching Foundation.
Melissa inaugurated her teaching career in 2004 after working for ten years as a nanny. In a Montana Federation of Public Employees press release dated October 4, 2017, the honored educator remembers that watching a child’s face light up as they play and discover the joy of learning something new inspired her to become a teacher. She says she strives every day to create those experiences for her students in her classroom.
Melissa earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences and a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Bridgeport located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Since earning her degrees, she has worked as a teacher in the Helena Public School District in a career that has spanned more than 12 years.
In addition to her selection as Montana’s State Teacher of the year, Melissa garnered a National Science Foundation President’s Award for Excellence in Mathematics Education in 2012. The award recognized her stellar work as a K-8 math coach and as an elementary school math and science teacher. She was recognized at the White House for the prize in 2013.
“Ensuring that my students are connected to the world around them and able to display empathy and compassion to those in their world is extremely important,” Melissa asserts. “Students who experience other cultures and develop skills in a connected world are better prepared to be productive, kind, and world changers, she continues. “I aim to bring the world to my students by extending student learning through field trips and hands on experiences, using technology as a tool to compare our community and state to other parts of the world, and by emphasizing the act of giving to others,” she concludes.
