RICK ROGERS: Veteran, teacher receives national honor

Celeste Michaud said she “was shocked” when word came that she was named the National Teacher of the Year as part of the Troops to Teachers national program.

Michaud just completed her first year as an eighth grade science teacher at Anderson Middle School in the McDonald County School District. Michaud was scheduled to receive the National Teacher of the Year during a ceremony this morning at AMS.

Michaud is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving from 1996-2002 before being given a medical discharge after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Michaud has been in remission since August 2000. After leaving the Army, where she developed a love of science as part of a research team at Brooke Army Medical Center while stationed in San Antonio, Texas, she earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Arkansas.

Deciding she didn’t want to spend all her time in a lab, Michaud entered the teaching profession, finally landing a home at Anderson Middle School.

And the administration at McDonald County School District is glad she did, so glad that Michaud was nominated for the National Teacher of the Year honor awarded by the Troops to Teachers program. The Troops to Teachers program was established in 1994 by the Department of Defense. The objective of the program is to recruit eligible military personnel to become highly-qualified teachers in schools that serve students from low-income families throughout America.

Michaud, 32, is a native of Springdale, Ark., said she did not apply for the Troops to Teachers honor, and had no idea that her principal submitted her name for the honor.

“I had no idea the award even existed,” Michaud said with a chuckle. “It feels great. This has been my first year teaching, and I worried over every little detail because I wanted to make sure that I did a great job. I obviously became a teacher for a reason, because I care. I want these students to learn, especially about science because it is my favorite subject, and I tried really hard. I tried to do a lot of fun projects, and do things that the kids could relate to.”

Michaud is also a mother and wife. She and her husband, Rick, who has retired from the Army after 22 years, have two children, an 11-year-old daughter and 4-month-old son.  When it comes to teaching, Michaud said it’s the look a student gets when “the light turns on” during an assignment that she loves the most.

“It’s great to see them learn about things that they use in their everyday lives, and they had no idea how it got that way, and now they know,” she said. “I think that is really fun. I love to have discussion with the kids and see how they think. I love to watch how they develop with their minds growing and changing throughout the year.”

Michaud said her experience in the Army has played a role in her new experiences in the classroom.

“When I first started out in the military I worked as a photographer, videographer and with sound doing presentations,” she said. “By the end of my five years, I ended up working in research at Brooke Army Medical Center. That is where the science goes in, and I was able to work with some doctors and do some really cool things. I wanted to learn more and more, and once I got out of the Army science is the direction I took when I started my education. From there, it wasn’t enough to be in a lab. It got old and repetitive. In the classroom, I am able to interact with people and it keeps me learning as well.”

Michaud is not the only one benefiting from her decision to teach — so are the students of Anderson Middle School.

Rick Rogers is the publisher of the Daily News. E-mail him at rrogers@neoshodailynews.com.