Mrs. Melissa Newton Merrill

Melissa Merrill

Dale County teacher insures that "No Child is Left Behind" at her school.

Veteran Dale County teacher Melissa Newton Merrill was the subject of an inspiring article in her hometown paper last summer.The Dothan Eagle interviewed her regarding the very successful summer tutorial program in which she participated last June and July at South Dale Middle School in Pinckard, AL.

Leaders at the school recognized that too many of their students in this predominantly rural area of Dale County needed extra help in math and English.They applied for a Title I federal grant, and Mrs. Merrill said that school had already dismissed for the summer when they were notified that the grant had been approved.
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Mrs. Merrill said that the parents were very cooperative and only a few of the children were dismissed from the program for behavior problems.
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Besides helping to develop and participating in this successful program, which can easily and economically serve as a model for others, Melissa Merrill goes the extra mile for her students.This past year she and her students and their parents raised $6,000 for a three-day trip to 4-H Camp in Columbiana , AL, for 52 students and 13 adults to attend, day trips to McWane Science Center in Birmingham and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and an upcoming 2-day trip to Space Camp in Huntsville in May.Mrs. Merrill is very proud of the fact that all money was raised without any expense to the school or the system.

When asked what motivated her to become a teacher, Mrs. Merrill said that her only sibling, older sister Nancy, was her role model.Nancy taught second grade at Cottonwood for 21 years before retiring.Melissa is now the role model for her own daughter, Callie, who recently graduated in Elementary Education from Auburn and is currently in graduate school and teaching first grade for a teacher who is on long-term leave.She and husband Kent, also a Dothan native, have a son, C.K, age 23, who is on active duty in the US Coast Guard in Pensacola.C.K. is a graduate of Auburn University with a degree in Logistics.

A lifelong resident of Dothan, Melissa attended public school here through tenth grade and graduated from Houston Academy in Dothan.She received both her B.S. in Elementary Education and her Masters from Troy State University in Dothan.She is currently serving as a supervising teacher for an intern and teaches Classroom Management at Baptist College of Florida two nights a week.Her hobbies are gardening and reading.In the summer she works at her sister and brother-in-law's printing company, Copies to Go.This teacher of over 25 years experience is a shining example to her peers and the public of someone who continues to learn, to motivate and to care.She has touched many young lives in her career and shows no sign of slowing down in her dedication to her students.