Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 5-18-22

16 I SCHOOLS I
May 18, 2022
MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE
@MIDRIVERSNEWS
MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM
Mid Rivers Newsmagazine names Melissa Liang as Teacher of the Year
Melissa Liang and her Progress South Elementary students
BY TRACEY BRUCE
Third-grade teacher Melissa Liang is
Mid Rivers Newsmagazine’s Teacher of the
Year for 2022.
In a surprise visit to her classroom at
Progress South Elementary in the Fort
Zumwalt School District on May 4, Liang
was presented with an iPad, flowers and
cake for her students. The children cheered
and hugged her.
“She is the best teacher!” declared Eli
Schreiber.
Liang was nominated by former student
Hayden Davis, who expressed her gratitude
for Liang’s patience and guidance
during a difficult year.
“My favorite teacher I have ever had is
Mrs. Liang,” Hayden wrote. “Third grade
was a very tough year for me. It started out
well, but I later found out that I wasn’t doing
too well. My bad temper didn’t help either. I
often found myself getting frustrated about
topics I couldn’t understand in school, and
instead of expressing it in a mature way and
asking for assistance, I lashed out a lot …
But Mrs. Liang helped me through it all.
After school, she would take time out of
her evening just to help me understand the
material. She also set up a journal for me to
write in so I didn’t have to express my feelings
verbally. It helped out a lot. She truly
understood what I was going through ... I
will never forget her or her efforts to make
me the person I am today.”
A Fort Zumwalt North High graduate,
Liang has been teaching third grade at
Progress South for the past eight years. Her
passion for teaching, however, has been a
part of her identity for as long as she can
(Source: Tracey Bruce)
remember.
“I wanted to be a teacher my whole life,”
Liang said. “I always want to help people,
and I had some really great teachers growing
up.”
Liang said she remembered her thirdgrade
teacher well. “I always felt safe there.
I always felt loved,” Liang said.
Another call to education was Liang’s
own fascination for learning.
“If I can instill life-long learning into the
children, they will always be open to new
things,” she said.
However, there are challenges that come
with teaching.
“Sometimes there are some behaviors
and some disrespect,” Liang said. “It’s
important to just get the kids to understand
what’s expected and what the definition of
respect is. We throw that word around a lot,
and I don’t know that we really take the
time to really tell what it means, so we talk
a lot about ‘What does respect look like?
What does respect sound like? What does
respect feel like?’
“They are all different. They are all
people. And the hardest thing to remember
is probably that they are only 8 or 9 years
old because some of the kids know more
than what we would have known at 8 or 9
years old and have to deal with things we
never had to deal with. They are coming
from a different place every day.
“They are going to remember who was
there for them. Hopefully, they are going
to learn. They will love learning and continue
to question and be curious, but they’ll
also know there is someone in their corner
and if they need something, they can come
back. I always tell them once you’re in this
classroom, you are mine forever. If you
need something when you are in college
you can come back and visit and see what I
can do to help you.”
Principal Amy Neill praises Liang’s
ability to make strong connections with
students and their families.
“She does a good job of taking care of all
students. She takes time out at the end of
the day for students who need academic or
emotional support,” Neill said. “She’s willing
to do whatever it takes.”
Liang said the highest honor was being
nominated by her student.
“When I heard ‘Teacher of the Year’ I
kept thinking, ‘Me?’ I’m sure there are so
many teachers who are more deserving,
that have done more. But then I thought
maybe I have done something. At least to
Hayden, I was that person,” Liang said.
Liang and her husband Eric live in
St. Charles and have two children, a boy
and a girl. She was chosen as Mid Rivers
Newsmagazine’s Teacher of the Year by
the program’s sponsors: Dream Play, True
Value–Schneider Hardware and Ruiz
McDonald’s.
Fort Zumwalt West robotics team dominates in KC, heads to nationals
By JOHN TREMMEL
At the April 28 O’Fallon City Council
meeting, Ward 4 council members Jeff
Kuehn and Dr. Jim Ottomeyer ceded their
ward report time to the Fort Zumwalt West
high robotics team.
The team, dubbed Jaguar Robotics, was
formed in 2016 by the school’s industrial
technology teacher, Bill Fitzpatrick. On
April 23, the current team of 18 students
won first place at the KCBots regional
battlebot competition in Kansas City. Their
next stop will be the National Robotics
League championship competition May
20-21 at the Robert Morris University
UPMC Events Center in the northwest
Pittsburgh metro area.
At the council meeting, Heather Mudd
acknowledged the key role and tremendous
support provided by Fitzpatrick. Mudd is
one of four adult mentors to the robotics
team and a parent of a team member. She
clarified that all of the work on the robots
is done by the students on their own personal
time. Each bot used in the competition
took hundreds of hours to build, she
said.
“No one touches the bots, ever, except the
students,” Mudd said. “At the Kansas City
competition, the team did not just win, they
dominated. The two Fort Zumwalt West
bots were undefeated, except their senior
bot defeated their own junior bot.”
Mudd also played a short video showing
snippets of the team’s battlebots in action
in Kansas City. The council and the audience
loudly applauded the team for their
regional championship win.
Information about the school’s robotics
team can be found at jaguar-robotics.
com/2022-2. Videos of their recent competitions
can be viewed at jaguar-robotics.
com/competition.
Individuals or businesses interested in
sponsoring the team are asked to email
fzwroboticsteam@gmail.com or bfitzpatrick@fz.k12.mo.us.