By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
Each month of the school year, the Sun recognizes a local teacher for his or her determination to help students go above and beyond. Anyone can nominate a teacher by emailing the managing editor at molly@gallupsunweekly.com and providing the teacher’s name, where they teach, and why they should be selected as that month’s winner.
October’s award went to Melzina Lewis, who teaches third grade at David Skeets Elementary.
Lewis has worked for the Gallup-McKinley County Schools on-and-off for a total of 28 years.
She started her career working in the kitchen at David Skeets Elementary. But after five years, Lewis began to think a change was in her future. Rather than lose someone who was great with the students, the David Skeets Elementary principal at the time offered Lewis an opportunity: becoming a teacher’s assistant.
Through a program offered by the school district at the time, Lewis worked on getting her teaching degree through the University of New Mexico’s Gallup branch while still working as a teacher’s assistant, and the district paid for it. She took classes at night, all while raising her children as a single mother.
After five years of school, Lewis finally earned her teaching degree. She taught in the district, at David Skeets Elementary and Indian Hills Elementary, for 15 years before retiring to take care of her grandson.
Once her grandson was in preschool, Lewis decided to go back to work. She’s been at David Skeets Elementary for the past three years since then.
Lewis said her favorite part about teaching is the kids’ “a-ha” moments.
“As I started working as an assistant, I just loved the look the kids’ would get on their faces when they got something,” she said. “Even now, the other day I told a little boy he got the answer right and his little chest puffed out, and his eyes got all sparkly. You just can’t beat that.”
After almost three decades working with kids, Lewis shared some advice for new teachers.
“Don’t ever take a student’s negative reaction personally,” she said. “Students don’t mean it personally. I see so many teachers really take it personally. ‘Oh, that student hates me!’ That student doesn’t hate you; they’re just having a bad day.”
In an interview with the Sun David Skeet Elementary Principal Oliva Lee praised Lewis for her dedication to her students.
“Her classroom runs on respect, structure, and creativity,” Lee said. “All the students in her class, their voices matter, and she is one person who pretty much says ‘Mistakes are a part of learning,’ and the students understand that. There’s confidence being built almost daily in her classroom and she does an amazing job at adapting instruction so that every student who goes into her classroom feels successful.”
Lewis’ love for teaching runs deep. When she was a teacher’s assistant she often had her own young children working out in the classroom during work hours, helping her cut and prepare decorations and worksheets for the students.
Her daughter Jessy Wommack remembers those days in her mom’s classroom fondly. Wommack soon went on to become a teacher herself. She works at Red Rock Elementary as a third teacher, just like her mom.
Wommack even won the Sun’s Teacher of the Month award in January 2024. At the time, she remembered watching people from the community greet her mom when they were out grocery shopping because she was a teacher fondly. She also grew up playing school with her brother and sisters using her mom’s old supplies and curriculum.
She praised her mom, calling her “dedicated and hard working.”
“She’s very dedicated and she’s hardworking and she knows the struggles that parents are going through,” Wommack said.
Wommack chuckled slightly when she heard her mom won the Sun’s award.
“I think it’s long deserved,” she said. “I think she should’ve gotten it before I got it, honestly. She impacted me and I wouldn’t be the teacher I am today without her.”
To nominate a teacher for the Teacher of the Month award, email molly@gallupsunweekly.com and provide the name of nominated teacher, what school they teach at, what grade or course they teach, and explain why they deserve the award.
