By Fay Abrahamsson, Harbor News Senior Staff Writer
Clinton
Don’t let
her soft Southern accent and feminine charm kid you. Sixth-grade math
teacher Melissa Mitko imparts plenty of structure, discipline, and
boundaries in her classroom.
“If there is conflict, I’ll step right in,” she says. “It’s because I care.”
Missy, as she is known,
recently was awarded one of the highest honors in her field—the 2009 Clinton Teacher of the Year award.
She teaches at the Jared Eliot Middle School and avows that teachers should lead by example.
“We must show students by example
the importance of education. We must instill positive self esteem by
equal treatment of each person in our classrooms. We must help students
set future goals so the path before them makes sense,” she says.
Missy and her husband Greg have
certainly made their adopted home of Clinton their true home. They both
have coached basketball and soccer for the Parks and Recreation
Department for more than 10 years and Missy, for the past six years,
has coached the cheerleading squad at her school.
“We broke all barriers,” she says,
explaining that the 60-person cheerleading squad cheers for both boys’
and girls’ sports. “We cheer for the school.”
In addition, everyone who tried out for cheerleading made the team.
Missy and Greg have also led the
annual Pasta Night at the school. In its seventh year, the event is
held to raise money for activities and programs outside the regular
school budget. Last year, they had 400 people attend and raised $7,000.
“It is a community event,” adds Missy, who says there is live music, prizes, raffles, and, of course, plenty of good food.
It could not go on without the expertise of Violet Barnes, head of the Eliot kitchen, Missy says.
Last year, Missy and Greg made more
than 1,500 meatballs. Their son Brian, 18, was the official
taste-tester. He is a freshman this year at Skidmore College.
Missy is also involved in the
school’s Rock and Walk event with science teacher Jeff Duda. This also
raises money for the Friends of Eliot fund for activities such as field
trips.
She is on the Board of Trustees and
is co-chair of the annual golf tournament for the Clinton Education
Foundation, an organization that raises money for all Clinton public
schools.
In addition, Missy was a
coordinator/director of the Connecticut Mastery Test Summer Program.
She was responsible for directing a kindergarten through 8th-grade camp as well as an academic motivational program for at-risk students.
At her school she was involved in
creating the Academic Athletic Policy that provides support and
mentoring for struggling student athletes.
For the High Schools of the Future
Project, which was initiated by Principal Keri Hagness at The Morgan
School, Missy helped developed guidelines for positive change. In
addition, she’s a member of the 2009 Technology Committee for the
Clinton Public Schools.
When not at school, you might find
Missy at the Henry Carter Hull Library. In addition to her role as
president of the library’s Board of Trustees, Missy, who has studied
interior design and worked in the field, designed the interior of the
new Teen Room located on the second floor of the library.
This volunteer work in her community isn’t a flight of fancy for this teacher, resident, and mom.
“I don’t do it to say I do it—I do it for my town,” she says.
Reinforcing that sense of a strong community tie is Missy’s philosophy and one she wishes to impart on her students.
“We must support the complete child educationally and through strong communities,” she says.
Teaching is Missy’s true passion. As
she was in the midst of writing her Teacher of the Year speech, she
said she had an “aha moment.”
“All of a sudden it became very clear to me,” she said. “This is why I am a teacher.”