Elgin teacher finalist for state Teacher of the Year

Melissa Evon, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher at Elgin High School, was named a finalist for the 2025 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year.

Evon, along with nine other teachers throughout the state, are finalists for the prestigious honor, according to a press release.

“The winner takes a year sabbatical from their school and is the ambassador of teaching for the state of Oklahoma,” Evon said. “That person travels around, does professional development, talks to teacher training programs and promotes education in Oklahoma throughout the state.”

In about a week, they will go to the State Department of Education, where they will go through the process of how it all works.

Originally from Mustang, Evon got her undergraduate degree in Social Science education from SWOSU. She also got her Masters from Walden University and is currently working on her second Masters at SEOSU.

Ih her spare time, Evon loves to travel, spend time with family and friends, hike and shop, but especially to travel.

She started teaching in Elgin in 1992. When her and her husband, who was in the Air Force at the time, got married, they moved around a lot. She taught in many places including Colorado and Northern Virginia.

“I’m a wife and a mother,” Evon said. “When he retired, we got to come back to Elgin. I was a Social Studies teacher for years. He taught for a year in the Air Force, he did (information technology) IT. So he’s the technology director at Elgin schools. Our son graduated from Elgin in 2023.

“Two years ago, there was an opening to teach Family and Consumer Sciences, so I left Social Studies,” Evon said. “I was teaching middle school Geography at that time.”

There’s more to the class than home life skills.

“There are a lot of life skills that kids would use in the home, but also employability skills, career skills, financial literacy,” Evon said.

What all does she teach?

“I teach three classes: Principles of Human Services, Interpersonal Studies, and Hospitality and Tourism,” Evon said. “I get to teach kids to cook and sew a little. We’re doing a parenting unit in Principles of Human Services. When it gets a little warmer, I’ll bring an old car we have and teach them how to check oil and change tires. I get to teach kids to write checks and do taxes and things about investing and credit. So I’m getting to teach real life skills every single day.”

Evon usually gets her curriculum from her kids.

“I usually ask my kids, ‘What’s something you want to know how to do?'” Evon said. “When they’re like, ‘We don’t know how to check the oil,’ I try to take the things that they want to learn in addition to our normal curriculum and add those things in. In my Hospitality and Tourism class, we learned how to set an informal and formal table. In my Interpersonal Studies class, we’re doing a unit on manners.”

Her love for teaching came at a young age.

“I really loved history, government and geography,” Evon said. “I wanted to share that with people.”

Everyday is different when it comes to teaching, and Evon loves it.

“I love interacting with students and getting to see them learn new skills and gain confidence,” Evon said. “I’m getting to teach kids to do things that they’ll use for the rest of their life.”

Evon is nothing, if not passionate.

“I think teaching is the most noble profession,” Evon said. “We have this really unique opportunity to be involved in a student’s journey and to help them hone their skills and prepare them for the future.”